


Do You Remember Me?

by BleachFox



Category: Bleach
Genre: Drama, M/M, Romance, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-13 22:26:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3398486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleachFox/pseuds/BleachFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Grimmjow woke up from a coma, he'd forgotten one of the most important people in his life, his husband, Ichigo. How will Ichigo cope with the news that Grimmjow doesn't remember him and how will he help him remember? Can he make Grimmjow remember him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Do You Remember Me?

\- When Grimmjow woke up from a coma, he’d forgotten one of the most important people in his life, his husband, Ichigo. How will Ichigo cope with the news that Grimmjow doesn’t remember him and how will he help him remember? Can he make Grimmjow remember him?

Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Bleach or any of the characters in the story.

Warnings: Yaoi (boy x boy), swearing, OOCness

 

Chapter 1:

The first thing Grimmjow heard was a rhythmic beeping as he slowly woke up and frowned. Lifting his hand only for it to be stopped and opened his eyes slowly, frowning in confusion at his hand when noticing the tube. Turning his head towards the beeping, he discovered it was a heart rate monitor. 

“Hospital?”

Grimmjow jumped when something moved to his right suddenly after he murmured the word, turning to see a young man looking at him in shock, probably in his late teens, maybe twenty. The first thing he noticed about him was the outrageous orange hair he sported, surely it was dyed, why would someone dye their hair like that?

“Grimmjow?” The man’s baritone voice had Grimmjow frowning, he was obviously older than he looked. He shifted uncomfortably under Grimmjow’s scrutinising gaze and tucked a lock of that bright hair behind his ear. Leaning forward, he caught Grimmjow’s hand in his own, linking their fingers to give his hand a tight squeeze and a concerned expression fell on his face. “Hey, are you ok? You look kinda pale.”

“Who are you?” The man flinched, his brown eyes widening in shock as he let go of his hand. 

“W-what?”

“Do we know each other?” Grimmjow paused and cleared his throat, taking the drink from the orange head gratefully to down it before continuing. “You look sorta familiar, where do I know you from?” The man hesitated and looked away, biting his bottom lip and Grimmjow frowned again, he was upset. “What’s your name?”

“Ichigo.” The man he now knew as Ichigo turned to look at him again, his eyes filling with tears which he quickly brushed away when they escaped. “And I’m your husband, we’re married.”

Grimmjow looked at him blankly for a moment, processing the words and jerked in shock when he realised what he was saying, laughing nervously. “No, no we can’t be. This has got to be a joke right?” Ichigo shook his head, looking down and Grimmjow could feel the panic rising, clenching the hospital sheets tightly. “I’m not gay.”

Ichigo didn’t respond, rather he seemed to shrink under the words and curled up in his chair, burying his head in his arms. After a few moments, Grimmjow realised what he said was harsh, after all, this guy seemed to be telling the truth. Clearing his throat, he reached out and touched Ichigo's arm.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Ichigo slowly lifted his head and smiled sadly. “Say you know who I am.”

Grimmjow shook his head, pulling away again. “I can’t.” He frowned as his hand was taken again, finally noticing the ring on his finger and saw that Ichigo was wearing the matching one, along with another ring. “Is that, my grandmother’s ring?”

He nodded and smiled softly, seemingly lost in thought. “Yes.” He whispered quietly, removing his hand from Grimmjow’s to place both on his lap. They fell into an uncomfortable silence and after a while, Ichigo stood up and smiled, Grimmjow noting it didn’t reach it eyes, it looked too forced. “I’ll um, go get the doctor.” 

He watched as the man walked to the door and opened it. “Wait.” He turned back and Grimmjow ran a hand through his hair, looking away. “I’m sorry I don’t remember you.” 

“Not as sorry as me.” He shook his head when Grimmjow looked at him in confusion. “I’ll get the doctor, see you soon.” With that he left and Grimmjow sighed heavily, sinking back into the bed with a groan. 

“Damn, what the hell is going on?”

…

After finding the doctor, Ichigo made his way outside and ran a shaking hand through his hair.  _How could he forget me? What happened?_ Ichigo flinched, remembering the first words Grimmjow said to him after waking up, how they shattered his heart. He knew something was wrong, but he had just woken up so Ichigo had ignored it. But to be told Grimmjow couldn’t remember him, much less, be horrified at the thought of being married to him, that was too much to bear.

Ichigo rubbed at his face, wiping away the tears that betrayed his emotions. Leaning against the wall to keep himself upright, Ichigo blew out a breath and closed his eyes. The thought of returning to that room was unbearable, the thought that Grimmjow didn’t know him, that he didn’t even remotely feel something towards him, was hurtful. 

“Ichigo!” He looked up at the call of his name, seeing Nelliel running towards him and sighed, pushing away from the wall to go over to her. She took one look at him with those wide, grey eyes before pulling him into a crushing hug. “What happened? Is Grimmjow ok?”

Ichigo's eyes widened in realisation at what she must’ve thought to see him upset outside and pulled back, managing to smile reassuringly. “No, nothing like that. Grimmjow’s fine, he just woke up and the doctor’s checking him now.”

“Oh.” She pulled away to frown at him. “So why are you crying?”

He touched his face to find he was indeed crying and quickly wiped away the wet tracks, clearing his throat. “He, um, doesn’t remember me.”

Nel took a few moments to respond. “What?” She asked in disbelief, looking at him in shock. “Tell me you’re joking.”

Ichigo shook his head and looked down. “No.” He replied softly, clutching his arm tightly. “He doesn’t know who I am anymore.”

“Did you tell him?” He flinched, remembering what Grimmjow had said and Nel sighed, pulling him into her arms again, deducing Grimmjow had obviously said something inconsiderate, just like him to do that. “I’ll talk to him.”

Ichigo chuckled and rubbed his nose, sighing heavily. “Thanks Nel, it means a lot.”

“Yeah well, he’s my brother and he better get his damn head straight.” Grabbing Ichigo's arm, she towed him back upstairs, letting go when they reached Grimmjow’s room and Ichigo hesitated. “Don’t worry, you can stay out here if you want.” He nodded and Nel sighed, giving him a reassuring smile before going inside.

Turning to look at Grimmjow, she sighed in relief to finally see him awake and walked over to his bedside as he watched her curiously. “Nel?” He asked when she sat down next to him and nodded, making him smile. “So I still remember you huh?”

“Idiot, you’d have a hard time forgetting me wouldn’t you?” She smiled before sighing, her mouth thinning into a pursed line and Grimmjow groaned, that meant only one thing, Nel was pissed. “Do you really not remember Ichigo? Because if this is some elaborate joke, I swear to god…”

She left the sentence hanging and Grimmjow shivered at the thought of what she might do, shaking his head. “No, I have no idea who he is. He say’s we’re married, ridiculous right?” He laughed nervously, stopping at Nel’s expression. “Right?”

She shook her head and sighed heavily, folding her hands under her chin to look at him seriously. “No, it’s not ridiculous. You were in love with him, don’t you feel anything for him?” Grimmjow shook his head, making her frown. “How can you forget him like that? God dammit Grimmjow!” She hit his arm roughly before standing up. “Do you have any idea of how much pain Ichigo's in right now?”

Grimmjow shrank under the furious glare, shaking his head. “No.” he murmured, looking away guiltily. “But I don’t feel anything for him, I’m sorry.”

“It isn’t me you should be apologising to.” She went to the door, pausing before looking at him again. “Please, try and remember. If you don’t, it will hurt Ichigo more than you could imagine.” With that, she left, leaving Grimmjow in an even more confused state than ever as she made her way towards Ichigo, who had just finished speaking with Grimmjow’s doctor. “So what’s happening?”

Ichigo turned to look at her and shrugged. “They don’t know, Grimmjow seems to be fine, responding normally to the tests. Everything seems good, just the fact that he can’t remember me.” He paused, rubbing at his face and yawned. “Damn, this is too much.”

Nel rubbed his arm soothingly. “When was the last time you slept?” When he gave her an amused look, she amended her statement. “Properly, as in a bed.”

Ichigo shrugged. “Dunno, I’ve been here every night since the incident haven’t I? Here was me thinking when he woke up, things would’ve gone differently.” 

Nel shook her head at the guilty expression Ichigo now wore. “It wasn’t your fault, no-one blames you.”

He sighed and shrugged Nel’s hand off. “I know, but I can’t help but feel guilty. The doc said he might remember in a few hours, or days, or never. I’ve gotta wait and let Grimmjow get over the coma first, and take things from there.”

She nodded, shoving him towards the elevator. “Go home and rest, I’ll call you if anything changes, promise.” 

Ichigo nodded, making his way into the elevator and out of the building. Heading back to his and Grimmjow’s house, Ichigo opened the door and frowned at the musty smell, quickly opening the windows. It was true what he’d said, he’d barely spent any time at home since Grimmjow was in his accident, luckily for him he worked from home as an artist so he didn’t have to worry about work, although his projects were definitely suffering from neglect. 

Glancing at his project room, Ichigo shook his head before making his way upstairs and falling onto the bed with a tired groan. “No work tonight, it can wait a few more days.” Whispering the words to himself, Ichigo soon fell asleep, full of fitful dreams. 

Waking up in the middle of the night, Ichigo automatically turned to Grimmjow to find comfort, freezing when he was he wasn’t there and remembered what had happened. Curling up on Grimmjow’s side of the bed, Ichigo buried his head in his pillow, faintly able to smell his hair gel and smiled softly. Rubbing his arms, Ichigo pulled the covers over himself and yawned, quickly falling asleep quickly in the comfort of Grimmjow’s scent.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

_*One Week Later*_

After a week of being cooped up in the small hospital room, with his only chance to leave the room was to go to the bathroom, Grimmjow was glad to be finally leaving. Nel had come down to take him home and was currently helping into the car.

"I can get in myself you know."

She scoffed, cuffing the side of his head lightly and stuck her tongue out at the scowl she received. "Please, you can even go down the stairs without help."

Grimmjow folded his arms and muttered something best left unheard by Nel, which thankfully it was as she left to get in the driver’s seat. He sighed and glanced out the window with a frown. Ichigo had come down to see him a couple of times since he'd woken up, but he was still no closer to remembering anything than he had been when he did wake up. 

His stomach churned again and he growled, why did he feel so guilty? It wasn't like he intentionally forgot, was it? Then there was the actual fact of what happened to him, why he was in the hospital in the first place. Nel was reluctant to tell him and all Grimmjow had pieced together so far was that he'd been shot in the head, the bullet thankfully missing his brain and just damaged his skull. So all in all, he was lucky to be alive. 

"Nel?"

She glanced at him momentarily, the hesitant call of her name making her frown, it was unlike her brother to be careful with his words. "Yeah?"

"Why did someone shoot me? Who was it?" When Nel sighed and shook her head and his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Because it's not my place, it's Ichigo's." 

He huffed at that and fell silent. The last thing he wanted to do was ask Ichigo. God knows what it would do to the man if he had to relive that. For now, he would have to figure it out himself. Maybe if he remembered that, he could remember something about Ichigo. When they arrived back at their family home, Grimmjow was out of the car before Nel had even parked and walked inside. 

"Grimmjow!" He stopped and sighed, glancing up to see his mother come rushing down the stairs, pulling him into a hug once she reached him. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine mum, stop fussing." Pulling out of her arms, Grimmjow smiled reassuringly. "Just glad to finally leave the hospital."

She frowned, running her hand through his short blue strands that had started growing back after the surgery. After Grimmjow found out they had shaved it all off, he almost had a heart attack. His hair was something he cherished, and for some reason he couldn’t remember, he liked it long. 

Scowling at the action, Grimmjow moved away and ran a hand through the strands. “Damn, I hate having short hair.”

His mother chuckled at that. “I know, Ichigo conditioned that into you.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, his hand falling slack at his side. “Ichigo?”

She eyed him warily for a moment before explaining. “Ichigo liked your hair long, so you rarely cut it. After a while it rubbed off on you and you didn’t seem to mind.” Sighing at the drawn expression he now wore, she shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure the memories will come back soon.”

“Yeah…” Grimmjow rubbed his head and his frown deepened. “I’m going to rest for a bit, see you later.” Heading upstairs, Grimmjow opened the door to his childhood room and stood staring at the bare room in confusion. Hearing someone come up the stairs, he turned to see it was Nel. “Where’s my stuff?”

She looked at him in confusion for a moment before understanding. “It’s, uh, at your house.”

“So why didn’t you take me there?” Grimmjow saw her hesitate and scowled, fixing her with a steely glare. “Nel?”

She looked away and sighed heavily, slowly meeting his eyes. “Because you lived with Ichigo. Your stuff is at your house, both of yours.”

Grimmjow looked surprised at the answer. “I lived with him?”

“Well duh. You did marry him idiot, so naturally, you’d been together a while. You’ve been living together for at least four years now.”

He turned and looked back at his old room. “Can you get my stuff?”

“What?” Nel’s eyes widened in surprise and she looked at Grimmjow disbelievingly.

“I need you get my stuff for me. I can’t get them myself, please.” He turned to look at her pleadingly. “You think it’s a good idea if I go and do it?”

Nel realised what he was saying and sighed in defeat, slowly nodding. “Fine, but you owe me, big time.”

“Thanks Nel.”

She sighed again, leaving the house to make her way over to Ichigo's. Pulling up in the driveway, she got out of the car and hesitated at the door before ringing the bell. After a few moments she heard a commotion on the other side of the door before it was yanked open. Ichigo stood on the other side, face slightly flushed from rushing to the door and covered from head to toe in paint, grinning when he saw who it was.

“Hey Nel, everything ok?”

“Uh, yeah.” She rubbed the back of her neck, making Ichigo frown when he noticed something was wrong. 

“What is it?” He asked softly. “Grimmjow?” When she nodded, Ichigo stepped aside and let her inside, closing the door behind her before sighed and facing her. “So out with it, what is it?”

“Grimmjow, uh…” Nel paused and looked at him sadly. “He wants his stuff Ichigo.” She almost flinched at the look on Ichigo's face when it dawned on him and he had to turn away so Nel didn’t see the full extent. “I’m sorry, I really am trying with him.”

“I know, thank you.” Ichigo's voice was high pitched, slightly distorted and Nel knew he was seriously hurt and upset. “After all, I suppose this is to be expected. Grimmjow wouldn’t want to live here if he didn’t remember would he?” Ichigo sighed deeply, turning back to face Nel and smiled weakly. “You know where everything is, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” She nodded and squeezed his shoulder as she passed him to go upstairs into their bedroom. Finding a bag, she searched around for Grimmjow’s things, packing as much as possible into the bag before grabbing his stuff from the bathroom. Hearing her phone beep, Nel put the bag on the bed and pulled it out, raising an eyebrow when she saw it was a text from Grimmjow and opened it.

_‘ Hey Nel, just one more thing. Can you get our grandmother’s ring? It’d be better if you ask rather than me. ‘_

Nel scoffed. “More like you’re afraid Ichigo would castrate you.” Shoving the phone in her pocket, Nel sighed heavily and grabbed the bag again. Heading back downstairs, she paused at the bottom when she saw Ichigo waiting with a box. “What’s that?”

He looked down and bit his lip. “It’s our stuff. Home movies, pictures, things, y’know… stuff that might help him remember.” Hesitating slightly, he handed her the box. “Can you make him look through it, please?”

“Sure thing.” Securing the bag over the shoulder, she took the box and raised an eyebrow. “Heavy, isn’t it?”

Ichigo shrugged. “Whatever helps him remember. When he does I am so kicking his ass for forgetting.” Nel laughed at that, before remembering the text and Ichigo saw the way her expression fell and frowned. “What now?”

“Grimmjow asked me to uh… get our grandmother’s ring back…” As expected, Ichigo flinched, inhaling sharply before quickly covering his left hand. “I’m really sorry. God you have no idea how bad I feel for just asking.” Nel put the box down, pulling Ichigo into her arms as his eyes filled with tears. “I can’t imagine how you feel right now. I’m so sorry.”

Ichigo nodded, hugging her tightly for a moment before pulling back and glancing at his hand and cleared his throat. “If he wants it back, he’ll have to come and ask for it himself.” Shaking his head, he looked at Nel. “Until then, I refuse to admit defeat. I won’t let him forget like this.”

“Ok.” Nel picked up the box, hugging him quickly before Ichigo opened the front door for her. “I’ll tell him what you said.” At the car, she turned and looked at Ichigo sadly. “I wish things were different, I really do. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to call me.”

Ichigo offered her a small smile. “Thanks Nel, it means a lot.” He waved goodbye and walked back inside, shutting the door before sliding down to the floor. Wrapping his arms around his legs, he rested his head on his knees and sighed heavily, closing his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“It can’t end like this, I won’t let it…”

…

Nel pulled up at the house and grabbed the bag and box, ringing the bell because her hands were full. When Grimmjow answered, she handed him the box and set the bag down. “There you go, I hope you’re happy.”

Grimmjow frowned and looked at the box curiously. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know. Ichigo said things that might make you remember. There’s some movies in there is well, you should watch them.” Nel ran a hand through her hair, sighing heavily. “You were right, it was better I went, not you.”

“Well at least I can figure that out on my own.” Grimmjow frowned, looking up at her. “And the ring?”

“I’ll tell you what he told me. ‘If he wants it back, he’ll have to come and ask for it himself.’ Good luck with that.” Before he could respond, Nel left him in the hallway to go upstairs. 

Grimmjow groaned and picked up the bag, taking them both upstairs. Setting the box on the bed, he eyes it warily for a moment, unsure as to open it or not. For the moment he deciding now wasn’t the right time and put it in the corner, preferring to take his things out of the bag instead.

After pulling several items out, he held up a shirt and frowned at it. It was a simple shirt, white, buttoned up, casual. But something about it was bugging him, whatever it was. Setting it aside, Grimmjow eyed it warily before continuing to unpack.

“Whatever that shirt is, I’m not wearing it.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Grimmjow huffed and sat up, turning on the light and looked across his room with a frown, he couldn’t sleep and he didn’t know why. His gaze landed on the box sat in the corner and groaned, of course, it was Ichigo, why else would he be this restless? Sighing in defeat, Grimmjow untangled himself from the covers and picked up the box, carrying it back to the bed. 

Sitting down next to it, he hesitated before opening it slowly and stuck a hand in to rummage amongst the items. Finding something soft, he frowned and pulled it out to see it was a lion plushie. He looked at it intently, holding it closer and inspecting the toy. 

“…Kon?” Grimmjow asked the name aloud before snorting, he was talking to a teddy, and it wasn’t like it could respond. Was its name Kon? If it was, how did he know that? He pulled the lion closer so his nose almost brushed the motionless face of the teddy he now knew as Kon. “Why can’t I remember anything?”

When he yet again received no answer, Grimmjow scoffed and set the plushie down, returning to stick his hand in the box. Finding something heavy, Grimmjow pulled it out to find it was a box and rose an eyebrow before slowly opening it. Seeing they were photos, Grimmjow moved to take one before his out eyes widened and he snapped it shut again, rubbing at his eyes to rid himself of the image. Why the hell would Ichigo put that in there?

Grimmjow could feel himself blushing and cursed, it had to be a natural reaction, anyone would blush if they saw those kind of photos, he would never be able to look at the orange head again without thinking about it. 

“What the hell did he think he was doing? Did he really think I’d want to look at that?” Grimmjow pushed the small box away and wrinkled his nose. Eyeing the box again, he tried his luck again, praying there weren’t any other shocks inside. Yet another small box was pulled back and Grimmjow eyed it warily for a moment before opening it, sighing in relief when he found they were normal photos.

Pulling them out, Grimmjow frowned at them, in each one, he looked happy. He knew he wasn’t one for smiling, so why in every damn photo was his grinning? Flicking through them, he paused at one with him and Ichigo. The orange head was laughing, his cheeks flushed and Grimmjow could see why, in the photo he was kissing the man’s cheek. So they really were happy together? Why would he want to forget Ichigo if he was as happy as he seemed. 

Putting the photos away, Grimmjow put everything back in the box and set it on the floor lying down and frowned at ceiling. They were happy together obviously, but why couldn’t he remember anything? Scrubbing at his face, Grimmjow groaned before rolling over to grab his phone and looked at the time, half one in the morning, perfect. 

He went to put it down, but hesitated. If there was one thing he knew, he had to speak to Ichigo. Unlocking the phone, Grimmjow sent the man a text before he could regret it and resumed staring at the ceiling. 

_‘ Ichigo I need to talk to you, can we meet? '_

Grimmjow jumped when his phone beeped and was surprised to see it was a reply, he wasn’t expecting Ichigo to still be awake. 

_‘ Sure, meet me tomorrow at Yumi’s around ten. ‘_

He frowned, what the hell was ‘Yumi’s’? Another text came through, so he opened it, raising an eyebrow when he saw it was an address.

_‘ Just in case you don’t remember where it is. It’s café, see you then. ‘_

_‘ See you then. ‘_

Grimmjow sent his reply and set the phone on the side, turning off the light as well. He needed to sleep, he had a lot of questions which needed answers, to which only Ichigo had the answers.

…

The next day Grimmjow woke up early, too nervous to go to sleep again. With a heavy sigh he got up to get ready for the day. When he went downstairs, Nel looked at him in surprise. “Since when are you such an early riser?”

Grimmjow shrugged, sitting down next to her with a groan. “I’m going to meet Ichigo, guess I couldn’t sleep.” Her eyebrows rose even further at the comment and she looked at him speechlessly. “What?” Grimmjow frowned at her, Nel was never at a loss for words.

“Oh, nothing. I just thought, after yesterday, you would keep your distance.”

He shrugged and frowned and the floor. “Well I have questions, only he can answer them. How long can I avoid him?” His thoughts strayed to those photos and felt his cheeks flush again. “Hey Nel?”

She looked at him, giggling when she saw he was blushing. “Yes?”

“I Ichigo the type to… y’know…” He waved his hand and trailed off, unable to voice his question. 

“To what?” Nel smirked when Grimmjow gave her an exasperated look. 

“Be kinda… kinky?” He jumped when she burst out laughing, glaring at her. “What?!”

She shook her head and it took her several minutes to calm down. Wiping her face free of tears, she sighed deeply and looked at Grimmjow again, suppressing a giggle. “Kinky huh? I suppose so, I mean, only when you were around. I thought when I first met him you two would never work, he seemed to shy, to innocent. But damn was I wrong, do you know how many times I’ve walked in on you two going at it? Don’t even get me started on where either.”

Grimmjow choked slightly and looked at her in surprise. “Really?”

“Yup, you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself.” She paused and lent towards him, frowning slightly. “C’mon, you’ve gotta be attracted to him right? Even a teeny weeny bit.”

“No!” Nel smirked, settling back but chose not to voice what she knew, Grimmjow was a bad liar, even when lying to himself. Grimmjow scowled at her before sighing and glanced at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw it was half nine. “Shit I’ve gotta go, where’s Yumi’s?”

Nel rolled her eyes and stood up. “C’mon, I’ll drive.”

…

Grimmjow’s eyes kept darting to the clock every few moments, the minutes slowly ticking by and now, it was ten to ten. “Damn it Nel, how long?”

She shrugged and glanced at the clock. “I dunno, ten minutes I suppose, we’re cutting it fine but don’t worry, Ichigo will wait.”

“How do you know?”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Because it’s Ichigo, and you’re always late for dates. Nothing’s changed and I bet he knows that.”

“It’s not a date.” Grimmjow huffed, ignoring Nel’s sigh and glanced out the window. “Are we there yet?”

She slapped his arm. “Don’t get childish, see, it’s there.” She pointed at a building across the street and pulled up, Grimmjow’s eyebrow rising when he took the front of the store in. there was no way in hell anyone could miss it. Bright neon lights proclaimed the place was called Yumi’s and Grimmjow frowned. 

“No way, I am not going in there.”

Nel rolled her eyes and shoved him to get out. “Idiot, you always go there. Your exact words are ‘best damn pancakes ever’ so get moving, Ichigo's waiting.”

Grimmjow looked at the café again to see what Nel said was indeed true, he could see Ichigo sat in one of the stalls, poking at something in front of him. “Fine, I’m going.” Grimmjow muttered the words and got out.

“Good luck!” Nel called before driving off and Grimmjow sighed heavily before crossing the street and approaching the café. Going inside, the first thing to greet him was a slap around the face. He flinched and glared at the assaulter, a blonde haired man who glared back.

“Well?” He asked, hand on hip, tapping his foot impatiently. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Uh, do I know you?”

Ichigo's head snapped up when he spoke, his eyes widening when he saw Shinji stood in front of him and got up quickly. He grabbed the blonde haired man’s arm before he could strike Grimmjow again. “Do you know me? Are you fucking serious?!”

“Shinji!” He huffed, turning to look at Ichigo and his expression softened. “He doesn’t remember ok, leave him alone.”

“Fine, but I swear to god…” He turned back to Grimmjow who was looking at them both in confusion and pointed a threatening finger in his face. “Get some sense into that brain of yours.” Sighing heavily, Shinji’s scowl was suddenly replaced with a bright grin. “I’ll bring over your usual, it’ll be a few moments!” With that, he turned and went behind the staff doors, leaving the two alone. 

Ichigo scoffed before looking at Grimmjow, offering him a small smile. “Sorry about that, Shinji can be a bit exaggerative sometimes.” He laughed nervously, his cheeks turning pink and Grimmjow was surprised to find it suited the man. “I, uh… c’mon, the tables over here.”

Ichigo turned and walked away, Grimmjow following him to the table and sat down across from him. He could now see Ichigo had been poking at what remained of his food. 

Ichigo saw he was looking and blushed harder. “Sorry, I eat when I’m nervous.”

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at that, leaning back in his seat to observe the orange head fully. “Why are you nervous?”

He thought about it for a moment, before shrugging. “I have no idea actually, but I am.” He looked down, slowly wrapping his hands around his drink and Grimmjow caught sight of his rings, frowning slightly. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Ichigo asked softly, bringing Grimmjow’s attention back to the present.

Grimmjow cleared his throat and lent on the table and frowned at Ichigo slightly. “Who’s Kon?”

Ichigo jerked in surprise, his brown eyes widening in shock. “K-kon?” When Grimmjow nodded, he smiled softly and looked down. “You won him at a fair, on our first date.” He looked up again and frowned at Grimmjow. “How did you know his name?”

Grimmjow shrugged. “I don’t know, I just did. When I was looking at him, it slipped out.”

“Oh.” Ichigo sighed, resting his head on his hand and lent across the table. “So, what else? I’m sure you have a ton of questions. I’ll do my best to answer them.”

His thoughts returned to those photos and Grimmjow lent closer to make sure they weren’t overheard, specifically by the nosy blonde who was watching them closely. Ichigo blushed when Grimmjow motioned for him to move closer, but did as asked. 

“I found some photos.”

Ichigo frowned at that. “Well yeah, I put photos in there.”

“No, I mean photos.”

Ichigo blushed violently and jerked back as Grimmjow said the word meaningfully and he looked at him with that look. He knew it very well, Grimmjow was thinking about sex. “Shit! I’m sorry!”

Grimmjow looked at him in surprise, sitting up as Shinji came over and dropped the plate in front of him, leaving before he could thank him. “Why are you apologising?”

“I didn’t mean to put them in, I didn’t know they were in that box.” Ichigo's blush heightened and he scowled at Grimmjow when his expression didn’t change. “Stop it, I know what you’re thinking about.”

“Oh yeah, what am I thinking about then?”

“Me, presumably naked by the look of your face.” Grimmjow jerked back in surprise, damn he was good. Ichigo chuckled at his surprised expression. “I know you Grimmjow and I know that look. Damn it…” He sighed softly and slouched down. “That look tells me one thing, you’re thinking about sex.”

“I am not!” Grimmjow replied hotly, feeling his own cheeks flush. “This is so unfair!”

Ichigo shrugged, looking out the window unseeingly. “Tell me about it.” He muttered, seemingly to himself. Sighing, Ichigo returned to looking at Grimmjow and smiled softly. “Try the pancakes, they’re-“

“The best damn pancakes ever, I know.” He chuckled when Ichigo jerked in surprise. “Nel told me earlier.”

“Oh.” They lapsed into silence and Grimmjow took the opportunity to actually try the food. Ichigo watched in amusement as Grimmjow’s eyes closed in bliss and he finished the pancakes off in record time. “Good?”

Grimmjow nodded and lent back with a groan, smiling softly. “Definitely good.” He opened his eyes to find Ichigo looking at him strangely and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Ichigo shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips as he twirled his straw around his drink. “Nothing, just nice to see you smiling a guess. After all, the last few times we’ve been together haven’t exactly been good, have they?”

“No, not really.” Grimmjow looked at the table, observing Ichigo's hand which was lying innocently on the top. Reaching out, he covered it with his own and looked at Ichigo who jerked in surprise, his eyes lifting to meet his. “Ichigo…”

“Yeah?” He asked quietly, leaning forward and Grimmjow copied the action. 

“Idiot!” They sprang apart when someone yelled, looking up to see Shinji come running out from behind the staff doors, another man hot on his tail. “Don’t slack off, we have customers waiting!”

“I’m sorry Yumi!”

Grimmjow observed the man with feathers in his hair and eyelashes, this must be the famous Yumi. He raised an eyebrow when the man turned his attention to them, his violet eyes narrowing. Walking over to them, he sat on the table with a huff and Grimmjow pulled his hand back. “So, what’s wrong with you two? Usually you’re the life of the party.” He turned an eyed Grimmjow suspiciously. “I heard you don’t remember us, is that correct?”

“Uh, yeah.” He ducked as the man threw a punch at him. “Hey!”

“Yumi!” Ichigo grabbed his arm and glared at his friend. “Lay off ok, Shinji’s already slapped him.”

He huffed and stood up. “Good, he deserved it.” Sending Grimmjow a glare, he stalked off again behind the scenes. 

Ichigo sighed and looked at Grimmjow apologetically. “Sorry, it doesn’t seem that anyone’s happy with you right now.”

“Yeah, I seem to have that effect at the moment.” Ichigo laughed lightly and Grimmjow smiled, it was a nice laugh. “Hey, wanna get out of here?”

He nodded eagerly and stood to follow Grimmjow, winking at Shinji as he passed. “So, where we going?” Ichigo asked, catching up to Grimmjow’s side and they continued down the street.

“I dunno…” Grimmjow looked around, grinning when he spotted a fair and grinned, grabbing Ichigo's arm to tow him over. “Let’s go!”

Ichigo laughed, letting Grimmjow take him over, walking down one of the makeshift lanes, Ichigo grabbed his arm and pointed at a rollercoaster. “Want to try it?”

“Sure, why not?” They joined the queue and as they sat down, Ichigo shifted closer to him and their arms brushed, making Grimmjow look at him in question. “You ok?”

Ichigo nodded, smiling nervously. “I guess, I’m not that fond of rollercoasters.”

“So why’d you suggest it?”

“Because you like them.” As the carts started moving, Ichigo gripped his arm and he sighed, moving to grasp Ichigo's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. 

“Idiot, you’ll be fine.” 

He looked at him in surprise before smiling, curling his fingers around Grimmjow’s. “I know, I’ve got you here so I’ll be fine.”

As they reached the top, Ichigo shifted closer and Grimmjow couldn’t help but grin, he really was cute. He stiffened at the thought, cute? Before he could question it, they were speeding down and Ichigo was clinging to him, his head pressed against his chest. Grimmjow, reacting on instinct, wrapped an arm around the man and drew him closer. Ichigo peered up at him questioningly, but Grimmjow refused to meet the gaze. 

When they got off, he stepped away from Ichigo as they started walking around the stalls. “Grimmjow?”

“Yeah?” He heard Ichigo hesitate, but his eyes landed on a stall showcasing more lion plushies and grinned, towing Ichigo over. “Wait here.” Ichigo frowned, but nodded as Grimmjow went over and started the game. His eyes widened in surprise when Grimmjow won and he was handed a teddy, which he brought back to him and held out. “Here.”

Ichigo hesitated before slowly taking it and looked up at Grimmjow in confusion. “Why did you do that?” He stiffened when Grimmjow’s hand left the teddy and moved to cup the side of his face. 

“An apology. I’m sorry about the way I’ve been acting around you. I know you’re hurting and I’m sorry I can’t make it better.” Grimmjow frowned, running his thumb over Ichigo's lip. “I really am sorry I don’t remember.”

Ichigo smiled softly, moving to hold his hand against his cheek. “It’s ok, I’m not giving up on you yet. There’s still hope, right?”

“I don’t know…” 

He flinched and stepped back, pushing Grimmjow’s hand away. Ichigo sighed and gripped the plushie before looking at Grimmjow again. “I think I’m going to go home.” He turned and left, surprised when Grimmjow followed. “What is it?”

Grimmjow sighed, running a hand through his hair before shaking his head. “I don’t know. Can I walk you back?”

Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise, but he conceded and nodded. “Sure, the house isn’t that far away.” 

They walked in silence, unsure as to what to say to each other. Ichigo was confused, it was fun, being out with Grimmjow, but confusing, he said he didn’t want him, but acted as though he did. What did he want from him? Grimmjow, not knowing the answer himself, was also confused. He didn’t know what he wanted from Ichigo, but he just couldn’t let him go. 

When they reached the house, Ichigo turned and looked at Grimmjow as they reached the door, smiling softly. “Thanks for today, I really needed it. If you need me for anything else, just let me know and I’ll be there.” Grimmjow nodded, but didn’t respond and Ichigo sighed. “Well, goodbye then.”

He turned to open the door, fumbling with the keys for a moment before unlocking the door. As he went to go inside, Ichigo jumped when Grimmjow grabbed his arm and spun him around again. Coming face to face with Grimmjow, he froze up, his heart beating wildly and he couldn’t form a word, instead opting for staring at Grimmjow dumfoundedly. 

Grimmjow frowned at him in confusion before cupping his face and lent closer, Ichigo's eyes fluttering shut automatically. Their lips brushed together and Ichigo shivered, tilting his head up and when Grimmjow’s lips met his firmly, he felt his legs give way, Grimmjow’s arm going around his waist to keep him upright. 

The kiss was hesitant, unsure and Ichigo knew Grimmjow didn’t know what he was doing so tangled his fingers in blue hair, pulling him down to guide him. Ichigo soon found himself pressed against the wall and moaned, tugging on Grimmjow’s hair. He pulled back suddenly, making Ichigo frown at the sudden withdrawal and looked up in confusion. 

“Grimmjow?”

His eyes darted to Ichigo momentarily before looking away again and he stepped back, running a hand through his hair. “I- I need to go.” Ichigo watched in surprise as he practically ran away and let out a shaky breath, leaning against the wall to keep himself standing. 

Ichigo made his way inside slowly, shutting the door before looking down at the plushie in his hands. He smiled and set it on the table, humming to himself. Grimmjow may be hesitant, unsure and hell, maybe even afraid, but there was a part of him that still wanted him and that alone, made Ichigo happy. He was determined to make Grimmjow remember, or at the very least love him again and the kiss proved it, Grimmjow wasn’t ready to let go just yet.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Ichigo pulled up outside the Jaeggerjaques family home and stopped the car with a sigh before getting out. Walking to the door, he rang the bell before waiting for it to be answered. For the past few weeks, he had been seeing Grimmjow on and off every few days, things between them running relatively smooth all things considered. 

Ichigo sighed and shook his head, Grimmjow had yet to ask him what had happened to him, how he ended up in the hospital. He was surprised the man hadn’t asked yet, he was sure it would be one of his first questions, yet he never asked. Ichigo was just dreading the day he did though, how could he explain what had happened?

He was pulled from his thoughts when the door opened and looked up to see it was Nel and smiled as she grinned at him and pulled him into a crushing hug. “Ichigo! What are you doing here?”

Stepping out of her arms, the orange head rolled his eyes. “Grimmjow called last night, said he needed to talk to me again.” Seeing Nel’s face fall slightly, he frowned. “What is it?”

She hesitated, glancing back into the house before stepping outside and pulling the door shut. “It’s just… Grimmjow’s acting strange, y’know, more than usual at the moment.” She murmured the words quietly and Ichigo's frown deepened.

“So? Do you know why?” When Nel shook her head, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Well I guess the only way to find out is to talk to him I guess. Where is he?”

“Upstairs in his room.”  Opening the door again, she let Ichigo in. “Good luck.”

“Thanks I guess.” Ichigo shook off her strange behaviour before heading upstairs.  _Grimmjow must really be acting strange for Nel to be like that. I wonder what’s wrong?_ Stopping outside Grimmjow’s door, Ichigo hesitated for a moment before knocking. “Grimmjow? It’s Ichigo, I hope you’re decent ‘cuz I’m coming in.” Opening the door, Ichigo found the man sat on the bed and sighed in relief when he looked up at smiled at him. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Grimmjow beckoned him closer so Ichigo closed the door and sat down next to him.

“So what’s up? Nel says your acting strange?” He frowned when Grimmjow shrugged and looked away. Seeing his hand, Ichigo covered it with his own and gave it a light squeeze. “Grimmjow? Whatever it is, you know you can tell me.”

“Can I?” He murmured the words, meeting Ichigo's eyes. “I don’t know if you wanna know this.”

Ichigo frowned before shaking his head. “Whatever it is, just tell me. Maybe I can help?” Grimmjow snorted and turned away again, pulling his hand from under Ichigo's to cover his face with a groan. “Please tell me, do you remember something?” When Grimmjow nodded, Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise. “Well isn’t that good? What is it?”

“I… It’s a woman, I don’t know who though.” Ichigo frowned when Grimmjow lifted his head to meet his eyes again. “I think I was dating her?”

Ichigo's frown deepened and he slowly shook his head again. “I don’t know, I mean, you’ve never mentioned an ex-girlfriend to me. We’ve been together six years, so even if you did, that was a long time ago.”

“That’s the thing, the memories, or whatever they are, they don’t feel old.” Grimmjow sighed and ran his finger down Ichigo's jaw to grasp his chin. “They feel recent, I mean, I saw the date in one of them, it was five months ago.”

His eyes widened and Ichigo jerked his head free of Grimmjow’s grasp. “W-what?”

“I think… I might’ve been cheating on you Ichigo…” He caught Ichigo's hand when those brown eyes filled with tears and squeezed it softly. “Hey, whoever she is, I don’t remember her ok? She doesn’t mean anything anymore.”

“And me? What do I mean?” Ichigo pulled away and rubbed at his face. “Why are you remembering her and not me? Is this the reason you don’t remember me?” Looking at Grimmjow again, he managed a weak smile. “Do you even care about me now?”

Grimmjow frowned in thought before shrugging. “I don’t know, I mean yeah, I care about you. But I don’t know how much, or if it’s romantic or what. This woman, whoever she is, I need to find her. If she can tell me something, I need to know.”

“Then go find her, don’t let me stop you.” Ichigo stood up to leave, turning to look at Grimmjow. “If you find out you were cheating on me, I want to know.” He sighed and hesitated. “What do you remember about her?”

“Not much, just… dates I guess. I mean, we were having dinner in one, it seemed kinda romantic?” Grimmjow stopped and shook his head. “I don’t know, it could be anything couldn’t it?”

“I guess, we shouldn’t just assume the worst.” Ichigo watched apprehensively as Grimmjow stood up. “So, where are you going to start?”

“No idea, my phone I guess. Maybe I have her number?” moving towards Ichigo, he cupped his cheeks and smiled softly. “Don’t worry, me cheating is only one possibility of many.”

He nodded and sighed, grabbing Grimmjow’s wrists to hold his hands in place. “I know, it’s just hard to think about it. I don’t want to think you were doing that behind my back. That you didn’t love me as much as you said you did.” Ichigo's eyes slid shut when Grimmjow bent down and kissed him firmly, frowning in confusion when he pulled away. “What was that for?”

“I loved you, trust me, I know that much.” He frowned when Ichigo looked away and pulled out of his hold. “What?”

“Just that you loved me?” Ichigo smiled bitterly and shook his head before sighing. “It doesn’t matter, I should go anyway.” He turned to leave, pausing at the door. “If you find out anything about that woman, can you let me know?”

“Sure.”

Ichigo smiled sadly before turning back to the door. “Thanks.” Murmuring the word, he left and shut the door with a soft click, banging his head on it with a thump. “Damn it.” 

“Ichigo?” He opened his eyes when he heard Nel calling him and sighed before going downstairs to find her waiting at the bottom. “So what happened?”

He snorted and rubbed his arm, looking at her with a small frown. “He remembers a woman, doesn’t know who she is but he thinks he was cheating on me with her.” 

Nel’s eyes widened in surprise before she slowly shook her head, letting out a disbelieving laugh. “He wouldn’t, there’s no way he would do that to you, he loved you.” When Ichigo flinched, she frowned. “What?”

“Everyone keeps saying he loved you. Doesn’t he anymore, everyone says it in past tense. Do you really think he doesn’t feel anything towards me anymore?” Ichigo bit his bottom lip and shook his head. “I need to go home and think, maybe I can find something about this woman in his stuff.”

“Maybe, I’ll have a look too.” Nel hugged him briefly before letting Ichigo leave. “Whoever she is Ichigo, I hope it wasn’t like that, for your sake…” She frowned before going upstairs to find Grimmjow sat on his bed again and stood in front of him with a glare. “Well, what the hell did you say to him?”

Grimmjow sighed exasperatedly. “Nell…”

“Do you really think Ichigo needed to know that?” She cut him off. “How do you think he feels now? Not only don’t you remember him, but the thought that you were cheating on him too, could you be more stupid?”

“He needed to know! Besides, it might not have been like that, she could’ve been anyone.” Grimmjow sighed and covered his face with his hands. “But, there’s something going on. Damn it why can’t I remember?”

Nel sighed and sat down next to him, patting his arm comfortingly. “So, what now?”

“No idea, find out who she is I guess, what else is there?” He paused and looked at Nel. “I don’t want it to be that though. I know it will hurt Ichigo a lot if I was cheating on him so I hope I wasn’t.” 

“Of course you weren’t stupid, you loved him.” Nel stopped at that, remembering what Ichigo said. “Do you still love him?”

Grimmjow sighed and thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know…”

“Have you two, you know… done anything?” Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed. “What? I’m just asking.”

He snorted at that. “No not really, we’ve kissed, but that’s it.”

“And…”

“And what?”

Nel rolled her eyes, Grimmjow could be so dense sometimes. “What do you think dumbass, is there something there?”

Again, he thought about it for a moment before answering slowly. “I don’t know, I guess it’s nice?” He snorted when Nel smacked his arm. “Ok fine, he’s a good kisser, maybe a bit more than nice.” He flinched when Nel squealed.

“Then what are you doing sitting here?! Go tell him already!” She dragged him to his feet, pulling him downstairs before he could protest. 

“Nel calm down.” Pulling his arm free, Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at her overexcited attitude. “Maybe I’m not ready for that. He knows me, everything about me near enough and I know nothing about him. I can’t, not yet, I need to know more.”

She sighed and looked at him. “You want to know who that woman is, don’t you?”

“Among other things yes. What if I did cheat on him? Do you think he’ll want to be with me then?” He paused and shook his head. “Or what if we got back together, and she reappeared, then what? I need to know who she is Nel.”

She nodded and smiled. “Ok, I’ll help you.”

“Thanks Nel.” Grimmjow smiled back before going to open the door. “Let’s go out for a bit. I need to clear my head.” She nodded and he opened the door, leading her outside. “Let’s go then.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Two weeks had passed since Ichigo had last seen Grimmjow and he was getting more and more worried with each day. He had tried calling him a few times, but when they didn’t go through and it became obvious Grimmjow was avoiding him so stopped trying. 

After his revelation about his mystery woman, Ichigo had been trying to find out who she was and to no avail, he had nothing. Ichigo had checked everything he could think of, Grimmjow’s laptop, work phone, his office, anything but couldn’t find anything. Whoever she was, he didn’t want Ichigo to find out by the looks of things and that was more worrying than anything. It made the possibility of Grimmjow cheating more realistic than anything else he could think of. 

To take his mind off everything, he spent the day working on his latest project, he was getting behind because he was so absorbed in his personal problems, his work was suffering. After spending most of the day working, he paused when the doorbell rang, he wasn’t expecting visitors. Finishing the stroke, Ichigo set his brush down and went to answer the door.

When he opened it he was surprised to find it was Nel. “Oh, hey Nel, what is it?”

“Mind if I come in?” Ichigo stepped back to let her in before shutting the door and she sighed heavily, turning to look at him. “How’ve you been?”

“Ok I guess.” Ichigo shrugged, walking into the kitchen to clean up and Nel followed. “How about you? And uh, Grimmjow?”

“I’m fine and Grimmjow’s ok I guess.” She waited a moment until Ichigo was finished and sat down across from her at the table. “We haven’t found that woman yet. Whoever she is, Grimmjow was sure as hell determined no-one would find out about her.”

“Yeah, same here. Whoever she is we probably won’t know until she tries to contact Grimmjow.” Ichigo sighed, shaking his head before frowning at the table. “He won’t talk to me.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” She looked at Ichigo and sighed. “Don’t worry Ichigo, he just wants to keep his distance whilst this is sorted out. Grimmjow doesn’t think getting together with you will do anything but cause more problems.”

“I don’t care; it would be nice to at least hear from him.” Ichigo muttered stubbornly, folding his arms with a huff. “I just… miss him.” Looking at Nel, his expression softened. “I’m lonely.”

“I’ll talk to him.” Nel promised, standing up. “But I have to go, I only stopped by for a quick hello.”

“Ok.” Ichigo followed her to the front door again, leaning against it and sighed. “So, when will I next see you?”

“Soon, I promise.” Nel smiled and hugged him quickly before leaving.

Ichigo sighed again and went back inside, his good mood from earlier thoroughly ruined and he had no desire to go back and finish his project. Instead he grabbed a blanket and curled up on the sofa, turning the TV on to watch some crappy rerun to try and take his mind of everything.

…

When Nel got home and went inside, she found Grimmjow sat with her laptop, staring intently at the screen with a small frown. “Find anything?” She asked and he shook his head, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“No.” 

“So what you looking at?” She walked over and peered over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow when he slammed the lid shut before she got a look at the screen. “Ok?” Noting how he was carefully averting his gaze from her, she sighed and sat down next to him. “I went to see Ichigo on my way back.” She commented and as predicted, Grimmjow stiffened. “He’s confused as to why you’re ignoring him.” 

“Did you tell him why?”

“Yeah, it still doesn’t mean he isn’t hurt.” Nel sighed and shook her head. “He said he’s lonely. He misses you Grimmjow.” Her brother stiffened and his jaw clenched. “Please go talk to him.”

“And say what?” 

“I don’t know, something, anything…” She paused before murmuring softly. “You told me two weeks ago that you still feel something for Ichigo. Go tell him.”

Grimmjow sat silent for a few minutes, contemplating what Nel had said before groaning and standing up. “Fine, I’m going. But this is not going to end well.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Except I do.” With a heavy sigh he took her keys and left for Ichigo's. When he got there he sat in the car for about ten minutes, working up the courage to go to Ichigo. Finally deciding to get it over with, he got out of the car and walked to the door, ringing the bell. When no-one answered he frowned, if Ichigo was in half an hour ago, where was he now? 

Twisting the handle, he was surprised when it open and cautiously stepped inside. Looking around the unfamiliar house, he felt something pull in his mind but ignored it, walking into the main room where he saw the TV was on. Hearing movement from the couch and a quiet sigh, he crept closer to see Ichigo was curled up on it under a blanket, fast asleep.

His chest rose and fell gently and Grimmjow found himself drawn to the man’s peaceful face, smoothed free of any emotion. Suddenly he frowned and kicked at the blankets to make them fall to the floor and exposed his flat stomach as his top had ridden up. Grimmjow felt his cheeks flush slightly as his stomach tightened, moving closer to Ichigo and knelt over him. 

Ichigo mumbled something unintelligible and his head fell to the side. Grimmjow carefully slipped his hand under Ichigo's cheek, turning his head back and ran his thumb over his lip. The man frowned, his eyes opening slightly and he looked at Grimmjow in confusion. “Grimm?” He asked quietly, moving to grasp the hand against his face. “What’re you doing?”

“I- I have no idea.” Ichigo sighed, his eyes closing briefly before opening again and he smiled softly.

“I’ve missed you.” Grimmjow’s heart jolted slightly, Ichigo hadn’t realised who he was. He thought he was the old Grimmjow, not who he was now. “Stay a bit longer.” Wrapping his arms around the older man, Ichigo pulled him down onto the sofa and curled up against him. “Mmm, that’s better.” 

Grimmjow exhaled slowly, his body relaxing after a moment and he wrapped an arm around the half asleep man, leaning over him to grab the blanket and drape it over them both. He looked up at the ceiling as Ichigo fell asleep again and sighed, the sound of the TV and Ichigo's breathing calming him slightly. When he woke up, Ichigo was going to freak out for sure. But in that moment, Grimmjow’s sleepless nights were finally catching up to him and he soon fell asleep as well.

Ichigo woke up first and he sat up slowly, blinking to clear his vision and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw Grimmjow asleep underneath him. Clutching the man’s shirt, he had to take several breaths to calm himself down. When he calm his raging heart down, Ichigo opened his eyes again and gently touched Grimmjow’s cheek with a shaking hand. He frowned when he noticed the dark shadows under the man’s eyes and he hadn’t shaved in a few days, his chin rough to touch. 

“Oh Grimmjow.” Ichigo sighed, quickly lying down again and pressed his head to the man’s chest. “You are too damn confusing. One moment you say you don’t want me and the next, your sleeping with me. What do you want?”

He jumped when fingers threaded in his hair and Grimmjow sighed deeply. “I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know myself.” Grimmjow replied, looking at the ceiling again. “I came over to talk to you but you were asleep. I woke you up by accident.” He hesitated and sighed again. “You thought I was the old me.”

Ichigo stiffened, lifting himself up to find Grimmjow refused to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t awake, I wasn’t thinking.” He paused, his fingers clutching at Grimmjow’s shirt again and screwed his eyes shut to stop himself crying. “I need you so much and it doesn’t stop hurting. I just wanted to believe you were who you used to be, if only for a moment.”

“Ichigo…”

“J-just let me finish.” Grimmjow fell silent and Ichigo calmed himself before continuing. “That woman, whoever she is, can we just forget her?” Lifting his eyes, he met Grimmjow’s to see confusing clear in his blue eyes. “Even if you did cheat I just want to forget. Please stay with me a bit longer.”

Grimmjow shook his head, sitting up to pull Ichigo into his arms with a sigh. Feeling his slim body tremble, he held him tighter. “I didn’t cheat.” He murmured into his orange hair. “I swear to you Ichigo I didn’t cheat because I loved you so much, I could never have done that.” 

Ichigo's trembles slowed to a stop and he looked up hesitantly before smiling warmly, making Grimmjow’s heart beat faster. “Thank you.” Leaning forward, he kissed Grimmjow softly before kicking the blankets off them both and stood up to stretch. “I needed to hear that.” 

He jumped when Grimmjow stood up suddenly and spun him around. Their eyes locked and Ichigo froze, staring dumfoundedly at Grimmjow who frowned back. “Do you still need me?”

He hesitated before nodding slowly, his eyes lowering. “Yes.” He whispered brokenly, closing his eyes again. “Yes I still need you and I won’t ever stop needing you.”

“Ah fuck…” Grimmjow muttered, cupping Ichigo's face to turn him towards him and smiled softly. “How am I supposed to say no to that?” Ichigo frowned, but never got to ask what Grimmjow meant as the man bent down and kissed him firmly. 

Ichigo opened his mouth when questioned and moaned softly, pressing closer to Grimmjow’s body as things got heated. Grimmjow’s hands grabbed the hem of his shirt, yanking it up and Ichigo was quick to throw it off, their lips parting for only a moment before reconnecting. Grimmjow pulled back suddenly and Ichigo frowned in confusion. 

“What’s wrong?” He reached out to touch Grimmjow, surprised when his hands were pushed away before his eyes widened in realisation. “I-I’m so sorry.” Backing away, Ichigo grabbed his discarded shirt before bolting from the room. Stumbling upstairs, he made it to the bedroom and shut the door, firmly planting his back against it before sliding down to the floor. 

Burying his head in his arms, Ichigo started crying uncontrollably as his already broken heart shattered completely. He’d managed to convince himself within a few short minutes Grimmjow still loved him and when faced with the truth, it was unbearable. He jumped when Grimmjow knocked on the door, quickly rubbing his face dry and stood up, taking a deep breath before opening the door.

Grimmjow stepped towards him but Ichigo shook his head, taking a step back. “Please, just go.”

“And if I don’t?” He asked, still advancing on the shaking man who was now trapped against the wall. “Why’d you run?” 

“You pushed me away.” Ichigo murmured back, pressing himself closer to the wall as Grimmjow trapped him against it. “You don’t want me anymore.” 

“If I didn’t want you, why would I kiss you? Why would I bother coming here?” He asked, leaner closer still to the trembling man. “Why would I come up here now instead of leaving?” He was close enough now that their noses were brushing, their lips a few mere millimetres apart. “Damn it Ichigo stop acting like this, it isn’t you.”

“You don’t know me anymore.”

“You’re right I don’t, but give me the chance to again.” 

Ichigo's eyes snapped up to meet his and looked at him in confusion. “W-what?”

Grimmjow frowned, trailing a finger along his jaw before tangling his fingers in bright orange locks. “Let me get to know you, stop pushing me away.” When Ichigo tilted his head up, Grimmjow kissed him quickly. “Show me why I fell in love with you.”

“Ok.” Ichigo nodded, smiling against his lips. “Let’s give this a try.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

_*3 Weeks Later*_

Ichigo paused as he heard a knock at the door and grinned, grabbing his wallet before hurrying down the stairs to open the door. “Hey, come in. Give me a minute and we can go.” He kissed Grimmjow’s cheek before going back inside, leaving the door open for him to follow inside. “I’ve just gotta find my… ah, keys.” Grabbing them from the side, he pocketed them quickly and turned to Grimmjow. “Ok, we can go.”

“Alright.” He held out a hand and Ichigo took it in his own as they left. “So we’re not going anywhere fancy.”

“Ok?” Ichigo looked at him questioningly. “Where are we going?”

“Wait and see.” Grimmjow smirked when Ichigo rolled his eyes, he had found out one thing about Ichigo, he liked mystery. “I promise you’ll like it.”

“Oh yeah? We’ll just have to find out wont we.” Ichigo got into his car and waited patiently as Grimmjow drove them into town. “Ok I give up, tell me.”

“Nope.”

“Please…” He reached out to place a hand on Grimmjow’s thigh and leaned closer. “C’mon don’t hold out on me.”

“Ichigo I’m trying to drive.” Grimmjow warned and he huffed, removing the hand and settled back in his seat. Since Grimmjow had agreed to try things again, he was adamant they take it slow, much to Ichigo's disappointment. “Don’t get annoyed, we’ll be there in a minute.”

Parking the car, he led Ichigo on the main street and they stopped outside Yumi’s, the orange head turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yup, c’mon.” 

Leading him inside, Ichigo's eyes widened as he took in the dimmed surrounding, lit by a soft flickering glow emanating from a table in the centre of the room. Grimmjow nudged his back and Ichigo moved to sit in one of the chairs and he sat next across from him. “So like I said, not fancy.”

Ichigo opened his mouth to respond, pausing when the kitchen door opened to see Shinji come out with a bottle of champagne and a couple of glasses. He set them on the table and winked at Ichigo before disappearing again. He smiled as Grimmjow poured them both a glass and took one offered to him. “It may not be fancy, but it does the job just fine.”

“That’s what I was hoping for.” 

“So what’s this in aid of?” Ichigo asked, setting the glass down and leant across the table. “This is uncharacteristic of you.”

“Is it?” Grimmjow replied, raising an eyebrow. “So I wasn’t the romantic type?”

“Well, you could be but generally no.” Ichigo snorted before smiling wryly. “You were more of a… physical person.” He looked down quickly to hide his blush, trying to change the track of conversation, but it was too late and Grimmjow had latched on. 

“It’s not hard to see why.” He chuckled when Ichigo looked at him in confusion. “I know when I woke up I said to you I wasn’t gay. But, now I’ve actually spent time with you I can see I was wrong.” Reaching across the table, he grasped the now blushing man’s hand. “I’ve started remembering things.”

Ichigo's eyes widened and he leaned forward eagerly. “Really, what?”

“You mostly.” Grimmjow shrugged, running his thumb over Ichigo's knuckles and looked down at their hands. “Just flashes, snapshots I guess, nothing big I don’t think.”

“That’s great!” He grinned widely and grasped Grimmjow’s hand tightly. “See, you’ll get your memories back, I know it.” He pulled back when Shinji brought in their food, scoffing when he saw it was pancakes. “Well I suppose this is more like you.” He picked up his fork to start eating, looking at Grimmjow questioningly when he didn’t move to follow. “Something wrong?”

“No, just wondering if you wanted to have sex later?”

Ichigo choked on his mouthful, his fork clattering onto his plate and he looked at Grimmjow with wide eyes. “You don’t ask me!”

“Why not?”

“You just… you know!” Ichigo waved his hands, his face getting redder with each word. “It just happens ok, you don’t have to ask me.”

“So… will you?” Ichigo blushed heavier, biting his bottom lip before nodding shyly. “Great, I get to see that face of yours in action.” 

Ichigo swatted his hand away and quickly started eating again to take his mind of his growing problem. “I need to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

He sighed and set the fork down, looking at Grimmjow seriously. “Why have you never asked what happened to you?”

Grimmjow paused, thinking for a moment before replying. “Well I know I was shot. But I didn’t want to drag it up with you, seeing as we weren’t on good terms. Since we’ve only just started again, I didn’t think it was the best time to bring it up.”

“Do you want to know?” When Grimmjow nodded, he sighed and looked down. “I’ll tell you later ok, now isn’t the time.”

“So tell me, do I score any points tonight?” He asked, steering the conversation away and looked at Ichigo questioningly. “Surely I’m almost forgiven aren’t I?”

“Ha, only when you remember will you be forgiven.” Ichigo joked, waving his fork at the man. “But yes, this does win you some points. After all, I did promise sex later so doesn’t that say I’m in a forgiving mood?”

“Ok you win. I’m lucky to have married such a wonderful guy.” Grimmjow smirked when Ichigo snorted. “If I started wearing my ring again, would you be ok with it?”

The orange head looked at him stunned for a minute before grinning widely and nodding. “Yeah, I’d be fine with that.”

“Aww! How sweet!” They both jumped as their privacy was interrupted and Ichigo turned to glare at Shinji who was looking at them both with a grin. “I knew you two could figure it out!”

“Shinji, get out of it!” Ichigo yelled, throwing his plate at the man who nimbly caught it and huffed.

“Now now, don’t take it out on the china. You know Yumichika would be pissed if this broke and I’m the one who has to deal with it.” The blonde admonished, waggling a finger at the man. “Are you two almost done? I’m tired and I can’t lock up until you leave!”

Ichigo snorted, looking at Grimmjow who shrugged and stood up. “Yeah we’ll leave, thanks Shinji.” Holding out a hand for Ichigo to take, the two left for his car. 

The drive back to the house was silent and Ichigo shifted nervously in his seat. He was telling the truth earlier, Grimmjow never asked for sex because he knew it made Ichigo jittery when it was planned. Would he still enjoy it? Would he want to again? Not to mention he had to explain to the man how he got shot. That was on a whole other level of nerves Ichigo was yet to face. 

He jumped when Grimmjow touched his arm and looked at him to see he was frowning. “Everything ok?”

Ichigo nodded and exhaled slowly, looking out the window to see they were back at his house and swallowed nervously. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Leaning forward, he kissed Grimmjow firmly, wrapping an arm around his neck to pull him closer. “Come on.” Leaving the car, he went to open the door, smiling when Grimmjow’s arms were around his waist and he was pulled back against his firm chest. “Let’s get inside first.”

“Ok.” Grimmjow let him go and Ichigo grabbed his hand, pulling him inside before shutting the door and leant against it, looking at him suggestively. “You ok with this?”

“Shut up Grimmjow, of course I am.” Ichigo scoffed, grabbing his hand again and dragged the man upstairs to their bedroom. “Question is, are you?” He asked when they went in, looking at him questioningly. 

“Yeah, I am.” Ichigo smiled and moved closer to him, running his hands down Grimmjow chest to grab the hem of his shirt. “Just, slowly ok?”

“Slow, got it.” He smiled reassuringly, tugging the shirt up to get Grimmjow to remove it before he took off his own. Ichigo sat on the bed, beckoning Grimmjow over who sat next to him. “Relax, it’ll be good I promise.” Leaning over the man, Ichigo kissed him slowly and rubbed his shoulders soothingly to relax Grimmjow. After a moment he pulled back and covered his mouth as he started laughing.

“What is it?” Grimmjow asked worriedly, sitting up with a frown. 

Ichigo shook his head, biting his lip before moving to sit next to his confused husband. “Nothing, this is just so weird.” He chuckled, leaning on his knees and looked at Grimmjow in amusement. “It doesn’t feel natural, I’m sorry but it doesn’t. When we have sex again, I want it to feel natural, ok?”

Grimmjow blew out a breath and fell back on the bed before smiling. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Ichigo settled next to him and Grimmjow turned his head to look at the man, reaching out to touch his face. “So maybe not tonight.”

“No, not tonight.” Ichigo caught the hand, curling his fingers around Grimmjow’s and sighed. “So I guess I should tell you about what really happened that night huh?” Sitting up he sighed again, keeping a firm grip on Grimmjow’s hand. “It wasn’t an uh, accident. Well it wasn’t you who he was aiming at… It was me.”

Grimmjow’s eyes widened and he looked at Ichigo stunned, unable to find anything to say. Ichigo shifted uncomfortably, looking down and gripped his hand tighter. Eventually, he cleared his throat. “He? Why- Why did he want to shoot you?”

“His name’s Shiro, he’s my ex.” Ichigo paused, fisting the blankets with his spare hand and stared at the sheets. “I left him for you and he didn’t take it well. I guess he snapped because he just burst in with a gun, yelled all sorts of shit and he just aimed at me and fired.” He snapped back to reality suddenly with a shuddered gasp and looked at Grimmjow with a soft smile. “You pushed me out the way, got hit in the head. I thought you were dead.” Shaking his head, Ichigo let go of Grimmjow’s hand to wipe his face as tears fell down his cheeks. “All that time in the hospital, I can’t count how many times I wished I was hit and not you. You didn’t deserve this and I’m so-“

“Stop, just stop.” Grimmjow covered his mouth, cutting off his apologies. “Don’t say you’re sorry because if you had been shot, I don’t think I would’ve been able to cope with you losing your memories. I wouldn’t have been able to deal with this.” When Ichigo nodded, he removed his hands. “So this Shiro, what happened to him?”

“Arrested, there’s no chance in hell he will get out.” He replied firmly, smiling grimly. “He deserves every second of it for what he did.” 

“Ok, so this proves one thing.” Ichigo frowned, looking at Grimmjow in confusion and he rolled his eyes. “Obviously I was in love with you, why else would I take the bullet like that? So if I loved you that much, how would I be cheating on you?”

Ichigo's eyes widened before he grinned and hugged Grimmjow tightly. “You’re right, you wouldn’t do that. Thank god, whoever she is I don’t care now.” 

Grimmjow pulled Ichigo down onto his lap, holding him tightly and sighed. “I’ll find out who she is. I think I’ve almost found out how to contact her. Just a few more days.” 

The orange head pulled back and looked at him with a warm smile. “I love you.” Murmuring the words, Ichigo lent forward and kissed him, nuzzling his head to his neck. “I love you so much Grimmjow.”

“I love you too.” Grimmjow replied quietly, tightening his grip on Ichigo's body. “I really do.”

“Really?” Ichigo asked, pulling back to look at him searchingly. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better are you?”

“No, I’m not.” He said firmly and in that moment as they looked at each other, something clicked. Ichigo smiled leaning closer to brush their lips together, his fingers deftly undoing Grimmjow’s belt as he rocked his hips into the man’s below him.

“Now it feels right.” Ichigo whispered against Grimmjow’s lips before standing up to remove the rest of his clothing and looked at him questioningly. Getting the hint, he followed Ichigo's lead and pulled off his remaining clothing before the orange head joined him on the bed again. “What do you think?”

Grimmjow smiled, moving Ichigo onto his back and leaned over him. “Yeah, it’s feels right now.” Looking up, he opened the drawer and pulled out the bottle of lube stashed in there, frowning when Ichigo grabbed it from him suddenly. “What?”

“You knew where this was?” Ichigo asked, his eyes flickering to meet his and he grinned. “You didn’t even hesitate.” 

He snorted at that, taking the bottle back. “Well I told you, I’ve started remembering things.” He kissed Ichigo before pulling back to look over the man’s body and smirked. “And I have to say, even memories don’t compare to the real thing, damn Ichigo you are fucking sexy.”

Ichigo blushed at that, smacking his arm half-heartedly. “Shut up Grimm and get on with it.” His eyes fluttered shut as Grimmjow’s lips brushed his before travelling down his chest and Ichigo gasped when he bit him lightly. “Shit, d-don’t fucking tease me!”

“But that’s all part of the fun.” Grimmjow sat up, opening the bottle of lube to squeeze some onto his hand before looking at Ichigo questioningly. “Ready?” Ichigo nodded, exhaling slowly when Grimmjow lifted his leg over his arm. 

“Just hurry up, I’m not exactly known for my patience.” His head hit the pillow as one of Grimmjow’s fingers entered him, a soft moan falling from his lips. 

“Wow, you’re receptive aren’t you?” Grimmjow asked, grinning when Ichigo's eyes opened slightly so he could glare at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you what you want.” He added another finger and instinctively searched for the spot which would have Ichigo seeing star, smirking when the man choked on a moan, grabbing his arm firmly.

“Fuck! That’s it, right there…” Ichigo came undone as Grimmjow continued abusing his prostate, digging his fingers into his arm and tossed his head restlessly. “God dammit fuck me already!”

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” Pulling his fingers out, Grimmjow quickly covered himself, shocked when Ichigo sat up suddenly and pushed him back on the bed. “Ichigo?”

“Shh, let me take over.” He whispered soothingly, sliding onto Grimmjow’s lap and grinned at the man. “Trust me, you’ll like it.” He kissed Grimmjow before he could reply, lowering himself onto the man’s erection with a soft groan. 

Grimmjow squeezed his eyes shut, his head hitting the pillow as Ichigo took him fully. “Shit Ichigo…”

Ichigo smiled at that, leaning down to kiss Grimmjow, rocking his hips to accommodate for his size. “Move, its fine.” He lifted himself up, sliding back down Grimmjow’s member with practiced ease, starting up a pace. “Damn that’s good.” Grimmjow cracked his eyes open to see Ichigo biting his lip, his cheeks flushed pink as he rode him, soft moans falling from his lips. Brown eyes slid open to meet his and he smiled. “What?”

Grimmjow sat up, pushing Ichigo onto his back and leaned over him. “You are so fucking amazing.” 

He grinned at that, kissing Grimmjow again before lifting his hips. “Then shut up and move.” Lifting his leg as Grimmjow’s hand ran down his thigh, Ichigo wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, tangling his fingers in damp blue hair. “L-like that.”

“Here?” Grimmjow asked, hitting his prostate and smirked when the man moaned, tightening his hold. 

“Yes!” Digging his fingers into Grimmjow’s back, Ichigo’s head fell to the side as he kissed down his neck. “T-that’s good, right there. Shit that’s good…” He grabbed Grimmjow’s hand, guiding it down his stomach to reach his aching member. “Touch me.”

Grimmjow complied, wrapping a hand around Ichigo's erection, pumping it in time with his thrusting. Ichigo arched upwards, pressing their bodies closer and pressed his head to Grimmjow’s shoulder to muffle his moans. 

“Grimm! I’m gunna-” 

Ichigo managed to get out before falling over the edge, spilling himself over Grimmjow’s hand as the older male followed him into oblivion. “Fuck Ichigo…”

When Ichigo came down from his high and regained some self-awareness, he grinned and kissed Grimmjow quickly. “You gotta loosen up, I can’t breathe properly.” He complied, loosening his grip on Ichigo's frame to allow the orange head to shift into a more comfortable position. “Damn, that was good.”

“Good?”

He laughed, leaning up to look at Grimmjow amusedly. “Ok, way better than good, you know what I mean.”

“Mmm.”

Ichigo frowned, his stomach tightening in worry and he sat up. “You regret this?”

“What? No of course not.” Grimmjow pulled him down, firmly wrapping his arms around the man. “It’s just…”

“What?”

“Is it different?”

Ichigo frowned again, looking at Grimmjow in confusion. “What, the sex?” When he nodded, Ichigo laughed and kissed him reassuringly. “Not really, don’t worry it was as good as ever.” He blushed, looking down shyly. “Actually, it kinda felt like our first time all over again.”

“Yeah? What was that like?”

“Not exactly the best, I was so nervous I may have uh, accidently kneed you in the chin.” Ichigo's blush intensified when Grimmjow snorted. “Shut up! I wasn’t expecting it to feel that good when you were prepping me and it was a reflex!”

“Yeah ok, thanks for not doing that I guess.” Ichigo scowled, shoving him gently.

“Shut up idiot.” He muttered, settling back in his arms with a yawn. “So you staying or what?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No, but I was trying to be polite. Get up and I will murder you, I am too damn comfy to move.” Ichigo yawned again before snuggling closer to Grimmjow and closed his eyes. “Will you be here in the morning?” He asked sleepily and Grimmjow scoffed. 

“Of course I will.” 

“Mmm, good…” Ichigo said quietly before going quiet and after a moment, Grimmjow deemed him asleep as his breathing evened out and deepened. 

Running a hand through orange locks, he sighed and reached over Ichigo to turn the light off before settling next to him and continued stroking his hair whilst staring at the ceiling with a frown. “Don’t worry Ichigo, I won’t leave again, I promise.”

 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

When Ichigo woke up in the morning, it took him a moment to remember the night before and when he did he couldn't stop his smile and turned to look at Grimmjow who was still sleeping soundly next to him. Tracing a finger over the man's jaw, Ichigo sighed happily before biting his lip to try and contain his grin. He scooted closer and carefully rested his head on Grimmjow's chest, closing his eyes again to listen to his steady heartbeat. 

The past few months had been rough, there was no denying that. But as Ichigo lay there he couldn't help but think things were finally starting to look up. Grimmjow was remembering things, he knew what had happened now and they were back on track again. He started slightly when Grimmjow snorted before rolling his eyes when he settled down again and relaxed. 

He traced his finger over the man’s arm randomly, enjoying the fact he could touch him again and grinned. The sunlight filtering in the room from the semi-open curtains caught his ring and he winced as it flashed brightly in his face before turning his hand away. Remembering what Grimmjow had said the night before about wanted his ring back, Ichigo got up carefully to not disturb him and quietly opened the drawer, rummaging around inside it for a moment to find the ring. 

"Well good morning to you too." Ichigo jumped and turned to glare at Grimmjow, the expression faltering when he saw the man’s smirk. 

"What?" 

Grimmjow shrugged and sat up, leaning back again the headboard and his smirk widened. "Nothing, just enjoying the view." 

It was then Ichigo remembered he was naked and blushed, hiding it with a reformed scowl. "It's not like it isn't something you haven't seen before." When his blue haired partner said nothing in return, he scoffed and returned to the drawer. "Stop staring at my ass." 

"Aww c'mon you're putting it on display here, how can I not admire it?" Grimmjow cocked his head to the side and watched Ichigo curiously for a moment. "What are you doing?" 

"Looking for something." Ichigo finally found it and smiled, picking it up and got back on the bed, crawling under the warm covers again and looked at Grimmjow nervously. "You uh, said last night you wanted this back." He looked down, holding out his hand and opened it so Grimmjow could see his ring. "Do you still want it?" 

Grimmjow smiled softly, lifting Ichigo's chin so their eyes met and nodded. "Yes I do." Ichigo smiled brightly, making his heart jump for a moment before he looked down again and slid the ring onto his finger. "Thanks."

Ichigo kept a tight hold on his hand, linking their fingers and sighed. "No, thank you." Tangling his free hand in blue locks, he lent forward and pressed their lips together firmly before pulling back. "Thank you for not leaving me, for staying."

“Well your stubborn ass wasn’t giving up on me so what choice did I have?” He winced when Ichigo thumped his shoulder and rolled his eyes. “C’mon you know I was joking.”

“Yeah I do.” Ichigo sighed, his expression softening as he looked at Grimmjow. Reaching out he traced a finger down Grimmjow’s nose and across his lip. “I missed you.”

He caught the hand and kissed the palm of it before smiling reassuringly at the orange head. “I’m not going anywhere again, promise.” He tapped Ichigo's ring before continuing. “See this? Means you’re stuck with me.”

Ichigo snorted, pulling out of Grimmjow’s arms to stand up again. “Oh aren’t I lucky? But I wouldn’t change it for anything.” He walked towards the bathroom, pausing at the door to look at Grimmjow with a raised eyebrow. “I’m going to have a shower, you coming?”

Grimmjow shook his head but got up to kiss Ichigo quickly. “Nah, we both know what it will lead to and I need to call Nel quickly.” 

“Ok.” Ichigo nodded and squeezed his arm quickly before going into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him with a soft click. Grimmjow blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair before turning back to the room to find his trousers where his phone was hopefully still in his pockets. 

Finding the item where it belonged, Grimmjow pulled it out and sat back down on the bed, calling Nel’s number to wait a few moments for her to answer. “Hello?”

“Hey Nel it’s me.” 

He flinched when she squealed, quickly pulling the phone away to look at it disbelief as Nel’s voice still rang clearly through, loud enough for him to still hear. “Oh my god where are you?! Are you with Ichigo?! Did you spend the night with him?”

She continued for another few moments, babbling excitedly before Grimmjow sighed and held it to his ear again. “Nel calm the hell down, one question at a time.”

“So… did you stay with Ichigo?”

“Yes. Don’t you dare scream!” He warned when she inhaled sharply, when nothing happened he continued. “Yeah I stayed the night with him.”

“Was it good?”

“Like hell I’m telling you anything!”

Nel giggled at that before sighing. “Yeah I know, you’re a hard man to get details from, that’s why I have Ichigo. He’ll tell me anything I want to know, one way or another.”

“You leave him alone Nel don’t scar him for life.” 

“You’re too late Grimmy, I’ve known Ichigo for years now. If you wanted to stop me you should’ve done the first time you introduced him.” 

Grimmjow snorted, looking up when the bathroom door opened and Ichigo walked back in. His eyes widened as he took in the man’s wet form covered only by a towel. “Well damn…” Ichigo looked up at that, smirking when he saw Grimmjow’s expression and raised an eyebrow, slowly walking over to the bed to stand in front of him. “Nel, I’m gunna have to call you back.”

“What, why?” 

Grimmjow didn’t answer but ended the call, tilting his head up to look into amused brown eyes. “That was rude, did I interrupt something?” He asked, resting his hands on his hips and looked at Grimmjow questioningly. 

“Not really, Nel was just wanting details, speaking of…” He grabbed one of Ichigo's hands, pulling him down to sit on his lap. “She says you give her all the details?”

Ichigo blushed, averting his eyes and shrugged. “Well, sometimes, maybe… I give her some details about us.” He looked at Grimmjow again and smiled. “Since you don’t say anything I’m the one who has to tell people how loved up we are.”

“Really?” Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise when he found himself pinned to the bed in one fluid movement and Grimmjow leaned over him smirking. “Well I hope you don’t give her any details about this.”

“Mmm, I plan on keep this all to myself.” Ichigo tilted his head up as their lips brushed, pressing them firmly together. He broke the kiss as Grimmjow’s hand slipped under his towel to look at him questioningly. “Where are you going?”

“Oh so you’re just gunna tease me with this towel? I’m still naked here.” Ichigo bit his lip and his eyes lowered as he looked over Grimmjow’s body. 

“Well I am known for being fair.” He replied teasingly, loosening the towel to drop it off the side of the bed before pulling Grimmjow down into another kiss. Wrapping an arm around Grimmjow’s body he pulled it down flush against his and moaned softly, biting on his bottom lip.

Grimmjow chuckled and pulled back to look at Ichigo's flushed face. “Already? We’ve barely started baby.”

His cheeks flushed at that and he shoved the man’s shoulder. “Shut up, prior to last night it’s been months since I’ve had any physical contact with you. What do you expect?” Grimmjow just shrugged, returning to his mouth before he could really get annoyed. Just as Ichigo was about to let it go, the bell rang and he groaned in frustration, looking up at his lover with a sigh. “Just ignore it, they’ll leave in a minute if they think no-one’s in.”

Grimmjow frowned slightly, glancing at the bedroom door, feeling his stomach tighten slightly. “I don’t know, I think I should answer it.”

Ichigo looked at him questioningly, seeing the way he was frowning and nodded. “Ok, if you want to, go answer it. Just put some clothes on first would you?”

He snorted in response, quickly kissing Ichigo before getting off the bed to change. “Ok, I’ll only be a minute. Don’t you dare move.” He warned, looking at Ichigo sternly who rolled his eyes and mock saluted. 

“Yes sir!” 

“Good boy.” He smiled at the orange head who grinned back before leaving to go answer the door, making sure he looked at least semi-decent before opening the door. A young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes turned and looked at him as the door open and she smiled. 

“Grimmjow, where have you been? I’ve tried to call you several times but you never answered. I know you said not to come here but I had to make sure you were ok.” He looked her in shock, his mouth opening but no words came out and she frowned. “Are you ok, you look kinda shocked?”

_It’s her… How did she find me? Oh god what about Ichigo?_ "W-what are you doing here?” Grimmjow finally asked, stepping outside and pulled the door closed. “How did you find me?”

The woman, who upon closer inspection looked like she was in her late teens, frowned and looked at him questioningly. “You gave me your address but said never to come unless it was an emergency.” When Grimmjow just continued frowning at her, she looked down and sighed deeply. “It’s an emergency.” She said quietly, shaking her head. “He knows where I live and had to get out of there, this was the only place I could think of.” Looking up at him pleadingly, she stepped closer and grabbed his shirt. “Please help me Grimmjow.”

He sighed deeply at that, he couldn’t just refuse her, she looked desperate. “Ok.” He muttered, opening the door again and led her into the main room. “Just stay here for a moment, I’ll be right back.”

He turned to go upstairs and talk to Ichigo but she ran forward and hugged him before kissing his cheek and smiled brightly. “Thank you Grimmjow, I knew I could rely on you.”

“G-grimm?” His head snapped up at the sound of that hurt voice to see Ichigo looking at them both from halfway down the stairs. Brown eyes met his and they filled with tears. “You fucking bastard.” He said weakly, spinning around to go back upstairs and Grimmjow heard the bedroom door slam shut. 

“Shit.” Grimmjow muttered, pulling out of her arms carefully. “Not good, so not good.” Running a hand through his hair, he groaned and shook his head before turning to look at her. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Amy.” She frowned and looked at him questioningly. “Don’t you remember me?”

“No, not really. I’ll explain in a bit. Just stay here.” He said, sighing when she nodded. “Good, I’ll be back soon.” With that he ran upstairs and went into the bedroom. “Ichigo?” He asked when finding the man had his back to the door. “Look, it’s not what you think ok-“

“Not what I think?” He cut off, turning to look at Grimmjow with his eyes blazing. Any weakness from before shown on the stairs was gone. “So who is she Grimmjow?”

“I don’t know.”

Ichigo snorted. “Bullshit.” 

“I’m telling the truth I really don’t know.”

“I don’t believe you!” Ichigo yelled back, fisting his shaking hands. “I knew, I knew something like this would happen. Why would everything be ok, why would we live happily together? What’s so wrong with me Grimmjow that you had to fucking cheat with a teenager?!”

Grimmjow frowned, grabbing his hands and kept a firm grip as Ichigo struggled. “I didn’t cheat! Whoever she is, it wasn’t like that you idiot!”

“I still don’t believe you.” Ichigo yanked his hands free and ran a hand through his hair before sighing deeply. “Just go, take her with you and leave me alone.”

“No. you said you didn’t want me to leave so I’m not.” Grimmjow shook his head when Ichigo glared at him. “You said you loved me, that you needed me. I’m not leaving.” 

“I don’t need you, I need  _him_. My Grimmjow, the one I loved. You aren’t him and you won’t ever be so I don’t know why I even try.” Ichigo paused, his emotions getting the better of him and wiped at his face. 

Grimmjow flinched at those words, his heart beating painfully. “You want him? He’s the one that knew that girl, not me. If you think I cheated then he’s the cheater, not me.” He paused for a moment to calm himself and Ichigo waited. “Do you really want him over me?” 

Ichigo nodded. “Yes.” He whispered, looking down at his hands before sighing deeply again. “He’s the one I love, not you.” With shaking hands he removed his rings, pressing them into Grimmjow’s hands. “Now get the hell out of my house.”

He stood looking at Ichigo in shock, his hands closing over the metal bands. “Is this it? Just like that?”

“Just like that.” Ichigo whispered, stepping away from him. “I can’t love you anymore. You slept with that girl and I can’t just let that go.”

“You’re blaming the wrong person because it wasn’t me.” Grimmjow growled, glaring at him. “I want you, not her. She doesn’t mean a damn thing to me.” When Ichigo didn’t respond, he grabbed the man’s chin and lifted his head. “I love you and I always will. I’ll go now because you’re being a stubborn ass and not listening. But don’t you dare think for a moment I won’t wait for you because I will, no matter how long it takes.”

He bent down and kissed Ichigo's forehead, making the younger man exhale shakily and close his eyes, head lifting automatically. Grimmjow frowned, stroking his cheek before kissing him firmly, cupping both sides of his face to keep Ichigo there.

“I will wait for you.” He murmured against Ichigo's lips, handing his rings back before leaving the room to go back downstairs. He found the girl, Amy, standing where he left her and she looked up when he came back.

“Is everything ok?” She asked worriedly, looking at the stairs. “That man, is that your husband?”

“You know about him?” Grimmjow asked and she nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. 

“Yeah, you said I shouldn’t see him. You didn’t want him to be in danger.”

“Who are you?”

She smiled softly at that, looking at him amusedly. “I’m your sister, remember?”

 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Grimmjow looked at her in shock, his mouth opened but nothing came out but a few stammering noises. “Y-you’re my what?” he managed to get out after a few minutes and she frowned. 

“Sister? We’ve been through this before. What’s wrong? It’s like you don’t remember anything.”

“Well that’s because I don’t.” Grimmjow sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, when was the last time we met?”

She paused in thought for a moment. “About six months ago. You said you were going to be busy the next few weeks with your husband. Something about an anniversary?” 

“Yeah, whatever we was doing, I got shot and lost my memories so I really don’t know you.” He smiled apologetically at her. “Sorry about that, you’re going to have to start from the beginning, again.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “What happened? Are you ok?” 

“I’m fine, really. I just lost a lot of memories so we need to start again.”

She nodded, glancing at the stairs. “Does he want to listen?”

Grimmjow hesitated, looking up as well before shaking his head. “No, Ichigo doesn’t want us around right now. Let’s go back to my mum’s, you can meet Nel then.”

“How do you know I haven’t already?” Amy teased, following Grimmjow from the house and he snorted. 

“Because she didn’t know who you were when I described you to her. Besides, I think she would tell me I had I sister if I forgot.” Grimmjow sighed and glanced back into the house. “See you soon Ichigo.” He murmured quietly enough that Amy didn’t hear before shutting the door. “Come on, let’s go then.” He said, leading her over to his car. 

When they got back, Grimmjow made her wait in the car. Best thing to do was tell his mum and sister first before introducing her. Going inside, he sighed and rubbed his head, today was definitely going to be a long day. 

“Anyone home?”

“Grimmjow!” Nel called, bouncing into the room grinning. She paused in front of him and punched his arm before pouting. “That’s for hanging up on me asshole.” 

“Yeah thanks for that, beat me up later. Right now I need to talk to you and mum, it’s kinda urgent.” 

“What is it Grimmjow?” Their mother walked in, frowning slightly. “What’s happened?”

“Well I was with Ichigo.” He paused and sighed when the two women shared a knowing look. “Yes, yes I spent the night with him. Anyway, this morning a girl turned up and it turns out she’s my mystery woman.” He held up his hands as they both opened their mouths. “Save it, I’m not finished. It uh, turns out she’s my sister. Go figure huh?”

His mother looked at him in surprise whilst Nel frowned. “Wait… if she’s your sister… doesn’t that make her mine too?” When he nodded Nel squealed loudly and grabbed his arm, looking at him gleefully. “Where is she? I wanna meet her!” 

“She’s outside in my car.” Grimmjow grabbed her arm as she went to go outside. “No way, you’ll scare her off.” He glanced at their mother to see her watching sadly. “What is it?”

She shook her head and sighed. “Oh nothing, just wondering why your father never mentioned he had another child. It just seems odd.”

“Well she’s in some sort of trouble, bad enough that I didn’t want Ichigo involved. Maybe it has something to do with him?” He hesitated and looked at her pleadingly. “She needs our help, I can’t do this on my own. I need to talk to Ichigo as well, he’s not happy at all and I need to fix that. I can’t do this alone.”

She nodded without hesitation. “Ok. Invite her in and we’ll talk, see what the problem is and if we can help.”

“Thanks.” Grimmjow looked at Nel sternly and she sighed. 

“Fine, I’ll wait here.” She muttered.

“Good, I’ll be back in a minute with her.” He left to go back to his car, finding Amy poking through his CD’s. “Hey.” He called, opening the door and frowned at her. “What are you doing?”

She snorted and looked at him with a wry smile. “God you’re old, what is this stuff?” She held up his CD’s and he scoffed, taking them to put away. 

“Yeah, I am twenty five. Excuse me for not keeping up with the pop charts.” Rolling his eyes, he stepped back to allow her to get out of the car. “So you ready to explain everything?”

She sighed and looked at the house. “I guess, how did they take it?”

Grimmjow shrugged, shutting the car door and led her to the house. “Nel was excited, sorry she might come across strong but that’s just how she is. My mum’s confused, doesn’t understand why our dad didn’t tell us about you.”

“Well hopefully after I’ve finished explaining, everything will become clear.” Amy sighed as Grimmjow opened the door. “Promise me something Grimmjow.”

“Yeah?”

“I need to know you’ll be on my side, no matter what.” She turned to look at him, mirrored blue eyes looking into his and he sighed before nodded. 

“Yes, I’ll stand by you. Now c’mon, time to go explain.” Going inside, Grimmjow led her into the dining room where his mother and sister were sat. Amy sat in a chair offered by him and he sat down next to her. “So, what’s the problem?”

Amy looked down at the table before sighing heavily. “My… our dad is dead.” There was a heavy silence at the table, broken by Grimmjow’s mother.

“That’s… that’s ridiculous! How can he be?”

Amy looked at her, her blue eyes hardening. “He drank himself into a grave five years ago, when I was fourteen. Left me with his debts to the local Yakuza. He owed them a lot and I’m the scapegoat. Turns out he signed a contract that upon his death, I become the legal property of their leader, a man named Sosuke Aizen.” She paused and sighed shakily, looking at Grimmjow. “He’s done some terrible things to me, I won’t even mention them here.”

He reached out and squeezed her hand, smiling reassuringly. “It’s ok, you don’t have to.”

Nodding gratefully, Amy continued. “I found out about Grimmjow in my dad’s stuff, what was left of it and decided to run away, come here. I’ve been hiding from Aizen for just over a year now but he found me. One of his men came to my house and I barely escaped.” Again she paused and took a shuddering breath, rubbing at her face to wipe away the falling tears. “He’s hunting me down and now I’ve gotten Grimmjow involved, he could kill you all and I’m so so sorry, I would never have come if I knew what he’d do.”

Grimmjow’s eyes widened when she turned and buried herself in his arms, slowly hugging her and sighed. “He doesn’t know you’re here right?” When she shook her head, he nodded in satisfaction. “There you go then, you’re safe.”

“But I’m not!” She exclaimed, sitting up to glare at Grimmjow. “He’ll find me and kill anyone who tries to stop him. He thinks I’m his property and I refuse to be.” She wiped her face and looked at him hopefully. “You told me you had a plan, please tell me you remember it.”

Grimmjow shook his head. “No, sorry but I don’t remember anything, it’s all gone.” 

Nel scowled at him, getting up to move to Amy’s side and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Yes but you’ll think of a new one, right?”

“Uh yeah… of course! Don’t worry my new one will be better than that crappy old one, it won’t be worth remembering.” Grimmjow smiled when she giggled. “See? Until then I guess you should stick with me, I’ll keep you safe.” He glanced at their mother who still seemed in shock that her ex-husband was dead. “Are you ok with that mum?”

“Of course.” She replied before smiling at them all. “You’re always welcome here…”

“Amy.”

“Amy. This can be your home now, until we can figure out how to stop this Aizen man.”

“Thank you, all of you.” She whispered, looking at them gratefully. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing.” Looking at Grimmjow, she grimaced. “I’m sorry about your husband, Ichigo?”

“Yeah that’s his name. Don’t worry about that, I’ll talk to him and sort it out. Once he understands you’re my sister it’ll be fine. I just have to let him cool off for a bit.”

Nel shook her head, but chose to say nothing, Ichigo was probably freaking out right now but it wasn’t her place to say anything. Instead she sighed and squeezed Amy’s shoulder. “Come on, I bet you could use a bath and a fresh change of clothes. Let’s go I’ll show you around.”

Amy smiled, following Nel from the room, giving Grimmjow a grateful smile as they left. He sighed and looked at his mum. “So what now? How do we protect her from this Aizen guy?”

“I don’t know, first things first, I need to know who he is so give me a few days and we’ll go from there.” She stood up and patted Grimmjow’s shoulder. “Go see Ichigo, he deserves an explanation after all, don’t leave him hanging.”

“I guess you’re right… Fine, I’ll go now.” Grimmjow sighed and stood up, smiling gratefully at her. “Thanks mum.” He called, leaving to go back to Ichigo's.

…

Ichigo waited until he’d heard the front door shut and Grimmjow’s car leave before sitting down on the bed with a heavy sigh, cradling his head in his hands.  _How could everything go so wrong, so fast? We were happy earlier, now what? I find out he’s been sleeping with some teenager behind my back, I should have known._

Opening his hand, Ichigo looked at his rings and snorted, standing up to chuck them in his drawer. The last thing he wanted to do right now was dwell on his crumbling relationship. Instead he went into the bathroom to clean himself up before going downstairs to pack away his latest project. Some rich contractor had hired him a few months back to reconstruct some sort of painting. He paid big money so Ichigo wasn’t complaining. The man was coming to collect it later on that afternoon so Ichigo carefully packed it away ready for travel, leaving it resting in the hallway. 

Tapping his chin, Ichigo rummaged around in his files for the man’s name. “Sosuke Aizen huh?” He snorted and laid the paper on top of the painting. It wasn’t that hard of a job, he didn’t understand why the man had paid so much for such a simple task. Ichigo lent against the counter and frowned, rubbing his chest. 

“Goddammit Grimmjow, you are going to pay for this I swear to god.” Ichigo groaned, running a hand through his hair and lent on the counter with a heavy sigh. “Why did you do this to me?” Before he could dwell on it any longer, the doorbell rang and Ichigo straightened up, fixing his hair before going to answer it. 

The man at the door was slightly taller than him, about the same height as Grimmjow, making Ichigo flinch at the thought. He had brown hair, slicked back to give off a sleek appearance and his eyes were covered by an expensive pair of sunglasses. “Ichigo Kurosaki I take it?”

“Uh yeah, hi.” The man held out a hand which Ichigo shook. 

“My names Sosuke Aizen, I’m here to collect my painting?”

“Ah yes, come in.” Ichigo stepped back, allowing the man inside. “Here it is.” Ichigo led him to the painting, giving him a moment to study it.

“Exquisite, you really have a talent here Ichigo. It was worth every penny, speaking of.” He pulled out his wallet and handed Ichigo a check. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“There’s no need, I enjoyed it.” Ichigo laughed off the thanks. “Do you need help carrying it to your car?”

“That would be great, thank you.” Aizen stood up, pausing as he looked behind Ichigo. He turned to see what the man was looking at to see a picture of him and Grimmjow. “You look happy, I take it that’s your partner?”

“Uh, yeah.” Ichigo shrugged, looking away again. “He’s not here right now or I’d get him to lift this painting, it’s definitely heavy.”

Aizen laughed at that. “Oh I’m sure we can manage it between us.” After some careful manoeuvring, they had the painting secured in the back of Aizen’s car. “Well, thank you for all your hard work Ichigo. But I have to ask you of one more thing.”

“What’s that?” Ichigo asked, glancing up at the sky momentarily which he soon found out to be his biggest mistake. 

“I need you to come with me now.”

“Wha-?” Ichigo went to look at him but never even got to finish his sentence as Aizen moved suddenly, something piercing his neck and his world went dark.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Ichigo woke up to find himself in an unfamiliar room. He sat up, noticing he had been on a bed and walked to the door quickly, cursing in frustration when he yanked on it and nothing happened. Turning to look at the room again, he frowned, it wasn't a typical setting for a kidnapping. The room was small, the bed taking up half of the space, a small sofa and table in the remaining space.

Spotting another door, Ichigo went over to it quickly, his hope fading when he pulled it open to see a bathroom. Returning to the original door and pulling on it again, he cursed and banged his head on the wood when it again didn't open.

"What the hell am I going to do?" The door handle twisted in his hand and Ichigo jumped back, taking up a defensive position as he faced the door. His eyes narrowed when Sosuke Aizen walked in. "What are you playing at? Take me home now." He demanded, keeping his stance as Aizen shut and locked it again before turning to smile at him.

"I'm sorry I can't do that Ichigo. You see, without you, my dearest Amy won't return." He chuckled when Ichigo's eyes widened. "Oh you don't know who she is?"

"She's a teenage who was sleeping with my partner." He replied coldly, standing up straight and folding his arms. "I don't see why that gives you the right to kidnap me."

"You really have no clue do you?" Aizen laughed again and Ichigo's eye twitched. "I doubt that would happen, they share a father after all. You didn't know?" He asked when Ichigo's face went slack. "Oh dear, you really are in over your head."

Aizen walked towards him and Ichigo stepped back wearily. "Don't come near me." He stumbled slightly and Aizen grabbed his arm. "Let me go, now."  The man dipped his free hand into his pocket and Ichigo's eyes widened when he pulled out a needle holding clear liquid. Before he could say anything it was in his arm and Aizen let him go.

Ichigo stumbled back and cradled his arm, looking at him in shock and outrage. "Wha-" He managed to get out before collapsing, Aizen walking towards him with a smirk the last thing he saw.

...

Grimmjow pulled up outside Ichigo's and sighed heavily, looking at the house apprehensively. "Well on the bright side I can tell him I didn't cheat." Getting out, he walked to the door slowly and rang the bell. When no one answered he frowned and rang again. "Ichigo?" When he again didn't receive an answer, he tried the handle and the door swung open. "Ichigo!" Still no reply and now he was getting worried.

He went upstairs to see if Ichigo was still in the bedroom to find he wasn't. Turning to leave, he saw the open drawer and paused, looking inside to see Ichigo's rings and sighed, picking them up. Back downstairs Grimmjow spotted a piece of paper on the floor and frowned, picking it up to read and his eyes widened when he saw it was a check from Sosuke Aizen.

"Oh god Ichigo... What the hell have I gotten you into?"

...

When Ichigo woke up again he groaned to find himself still in the room and sat up. Going to rub his face, he paused and looked at his left hand to see it was bandaged. His eyes widened in horror when he saw his ring finger was gone and wriggled his fingers to make sure, yep it was definitely gone. Before he could process this information the door opened and Ichigo cradled his hand to his chest, glaring at Aizen when he walked in.

"What the fuck did you do?!" He yelled, getting unsteadily to his feet.

Aizen merely watched him with a small smile, responding after a moment. "I had to send a message, they know I'm serious now. If I don't have Amy by the end of tomorrow I'll cut another one off."

Ichigo backed up into the wall, his breathing become laboured as he started panicking. "You're fucking crazy!"

Aizen walked over to him and grasped his chin so their eyes met. "Well you better pray Grimmjow trades Amy in for you, otherwise you'll be returned piece by piece." He told Ichigo cheerily before patting his cheek. "Do you want some food? I'm sure you're hungry by now it's been over twenty four hours since you ate."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he yanked his head free from the man’s grasp. "No I'm not."

Aizen sighed. "Suit yourself, I'll be back soon."

With that he left and Ichigo slowly sunk down the wall to collapse on the floor. _What am I going to do? How can I escape like this, especially if that bastard starts hacking off all my fingers. Grimmjow, whatever you're doing please hurry up and find me before it’s too late._

His stomach protested loudly about its lack of food and Ichigo curled up, cradling his injured hand to his chest. Apparently there was still some drugs left in his system as the next thing Ichigo knew the door was being opened again and a man was entering with a tray of food. Ichigo stood up abruptly and watched him wearily.

"You need to eat Mr Kurosaki, you'll have no strength otherwise." He said, setting the tray on the table. Ichigo walked over cautiously and as the man took the plates off the tray he slid it away and grabbed it. Before the man could react Ichigo brought the tray down on his head, knocking him out instantly.

The tray clattered to the floor and Ichigo grabbed the keys, quickly leaving the room to make his way down the corridor. Hearing voices, Ichigo panicked and ducked into the next room, pressing his ear against the door to listen and sighed in relief when the voices faded. Going back out, he walked down the corridor quietly, listening hard for any noises.

After several minutes of walking, Ichigo found himself outside and grinned, it soon fading when he saw the grounds were surrounded by a high walked fence topped with barbed wire. No way he could climb over that, even if he was in a perfect condition. Instead he opted for moving across the grounds to slip back into the house further along and hopefully away from Aizen.

This part of the house though, Ichigo soon realised, was more crowded than where he previously was. He found himself ducking in and out of several room and hiding a lot more often to remain unseen.  When several men ran past he overheard them talking about a security breach in the west wing.

_Great, looks like they know I've escaped. I've gotta get out of here. Or at least find a phone to call the police._ That was harder than he thought as no matter how many rooms he entered, there were no phones to be seen. _Who the hell lives in such a massive place without so much as a single phone?!_ Ichigo thought furiously, ducking down another corridor as he heard footsteps.

He rested against the wall and let out a quiet sigh. "Shit, I'm not going to last much longer like this..." He muttered, rubbing his eyes as his vision blurred again. Pushing away from the wall Ichigo made his way unsteadily to a large pair of wooden doors and pushed inside.

He found himself in a large ballroom and raised an eyebrow, apparently Aizen was one hell of a rich man. Walking across the room, Ichigo cursed as his footsteps echoed and sped up. Hearing another set of footsteps, he came to a stop and turned around slowly.

"Well, well. You're just full of surprises Ichigo." Aizen commented, watched as Ichigo's eyes widened and he backed up. "Even in your state you made it this far. I guess you need to be readily sedated or you're going to be a problem."

"So you're going to drug me up?!" Ichigo asked incredulously, looking around to see he was being cornered by Aizen and three of his men. "You won't get away with this, I won't let you."

"My dear boy, you don't have a choice." Aizen grabbed Ichigo's arm, injecting more sedative into the man and after a moment the orange head stood calmly on the spot, his face blank of any emotion. "Good boy." He patted Ichigo's cheek before addressing one of his men. "Take him back to his room and make sure he doesn't escape again." He watched Ichigo follow after the man and smiled. "Maybe you're not as bad as I though Ichigo..."

...

Grimmjow went home, the cheque firmly in his hand as he went inside to find his family still at the table. "Aizen has Ichigo." He said, throwing it on the table and sat down with a heavy sigh. "He's just gone and I found this."

"We already know." Nel replied quietly and Grimmjow looked at her questioningly so she handed him an envelope. He took it after a moment and opened it cautiously to see a note and pulled it out to read.

_' By now as I'm sure you are aware, Ichigo Kurosaki has been taken. He will be freed once Amy has been safely returned to me. If she is not, Ichigo will suffer painfully. Here is a gift to show you what will happen to him if you do not comply. You have twenty four hours to respond before another one is removed._

_\- Aizen '_

"What does he mean 'gift?'" Grimmjow asked, looking at the three women to see their faces paled. "What's he done to Ichigo?" He asked, his voice dropping and then he saw a box on the side.

"Grimmjow wait, please don't!" Nel said, grabbing his arm to stop him. "Please don't look."

"What is it?" Nel just shook her head so he pulled his arm free and approached the box. Opening the lid, Grimmjow looked inside and froze. "Tell me that isn't..."

"It is." Amy said, standing up and walked over to him, slowly closing the lid again. "Aizen wouldn't joke around, don't take his threat lightly. Another one will be sent tomorrow if I don't go back."

"I'm going to kill him." Grimmjow stated calmly, turning to look at Amy. "You have a gun right?"

She rose her eyebrow. "Uh, yeah? I'm not giving it to you though."

"Why not?"

"You've never used one. You're more likely to shoot Ichigo then Aizen and you can bet he'll have him close at hand in case anyone gets that idea."

"I don't care! Didn't you not see what was in that box? It was Ichigo's fucking finger! I'm going to kill him for doing that to Ichigo!" Grimmjow stopped with a heavy sigh and ran a hand though his hair. "This is my fault. If it wasn't for me, Ichigo wouldn't be in this situation."

"Actually it's my fault." Amy said hesitantly placing a hand on his arm and smiled bracingly. "Don't worry, we're going tomorrow for the trade ok. You'll get Ichigo back before Aizen does anything else to him."

"What about you?" Nel asked worriedly and she shrugged.

"I'll survive, Aizen wants me alive at least. Besides, I can't stay here knowing Ichigo's there, it isn't fair." She paused and looked at Grimmjow who was leaning against the table with his head bowed. "Especially not on Grimmjow."

"Isn't there anything else we can do?" Nel asked exasperatedly, looking at her mother for help who frowned.

"We could involve the police..."

Amy shook her head. "Can't, Aizen has contacts there, they wouldn't help. There is no other option ok? Tomorrow Grimmjow will take me back to Aizen's estate and trade me for Ichigo. That's the only way this can go."

"We'll get you out of there, I promise." Grimmjow murmured, looking at Amy. "I don't care what it takes, as soon as Ichigo's safe I'm coming back for you."

Amy nodded and managed a small smile. "Thank you."

 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Grimmjow picked up a phone he hadn't previously noticed sat next to the box. It was obviously a burn phone due to its outdated look and when he flipped it open, only one number was saved so he called it. After a few moments it was answered. "Is this Aizen?"

"Close but no dice." A man sniggered in reply. "I take it you're Grimmjow Jaeggerjaques?"

"Yes, so where is this trade happening?"

"Tomorrow and noon, Aizen will be waiting at the docks for you, the unused end of course."

"Naturally, we'll be there and if anything is else happens to Ichigo, I will kill Aizen." Grimmjow threatened, only getting another snigger in reply before the call was ended. He sighed and dropped the phone onto the desk before resting his head in his hands "What am I going to do?"

"You're going to do the right thing and get Ichigo back." Amy replied, walking over to him and squeezed his arm. "I'll be fine, Aizen won't kill me and like you said, you'll get me out." Grimmjow nodded but didn't say anything so she left.

"I'll find a way to save you both, I promise." Grimmjow said calmly, glancing up to catch sight of himself in the mirror. "I'll remember my plan."

...

The next day Grimmjow, drove himself, Amy and Nel, who insisted she was coming, to the docks. When they got out Amy lead them towards an open space, at the other end a black car was parked. As they approached the doors opened and a brown haired man got out, Grimmjow's eyes narrowing when he dragged Ichigo out with him, his hands bound and mouth gagged.

Amy saw Grimmjow tense and grabbed his arm. "Calm down, that's Aizen and this is exactly what he wants, don't lose your head." Grimmjow nodded after a moment and followed her lead, stopping a few yards away from Aizen and Ichigo. "Here I am." Amy said loud enough for her words to reach Aizen. "Now let him go."

He smiled at that before pulling a gun out, pressing it Ichigo's head and he whimpered. Grimmjow growled, starting towards him but Nel held him back with a warning look from Amy. "My, my, you really are protective of him aren't you Mr Jaeggerjaques. No matter, you'll have dear Ichigo back in a moment." He turned his attention to Amy, his expression hardening for a moment before returning to his usual calm facade. "Now come here Amy, and I'll let him go."

Amy nodded, turning to give both Grimmjow and Nel a reassuring smile. "I'll see you soon." She said quietly so Aizen didn't hear before walking towards him. Only when she was stood at his side did Aizen remove the gun from Ichigo's head. "Let him go." She said quietly, looking up at Aizen. "You got what you want, he's of no use to you now."

"Exactly." After a moment Aizen released his grip on Ichigo who looked at him confused for a moment before stepping away towards Grimmjow. "And you know what happens to those who have no use anymore."

Amy's eyes widened and she went to grab Aizen's arm but she was too late. "No!"

Grimmjow froze as Aizen fired the gun, the sound echoing loudly in the deserted dock for no one but them to hear. Ichigo, who still had his back to them remained standing for a moment before dropping to the floor. "Ichigo?" He asked quietly, his eyes widening and breathing becoming short when he didn't move. "Ichigo?!"

He went to move but a searing pain shot through his head, making him fall to his knees and clutch his head tightly. "Grimmjow!" Nel called, grabbing his shoulders. "What's wrong?"

Breaking free of Nel's hold he ran towards Ichigo and dropped to his knees next to him. He looked up to see Amy's tear stained face and knew what had happened, shaking his head disbelievingly. "I'm so sorry." She choked, reaching out to him. "I didn't know he would-"

"No!" Grimmjow yelled, looking down at Ichigo again and grabbed his shoulders to turn him around. "Come on Ichigo, please don't do this to me." He already knew it was too late though and when he saw Ichigo's face, the blood running down his nose from the bullet hole in his head and choked, pulling him into his arms.

"Well isn't this unfortunate." Aizen commented and Grimmjow looked up at him with a glare. "Don't look at me like that, I had no choice. Ichigo had seen too much, he had to die." He sighed and grabbed Amy forcing her into the car before turning back to Grimmjow. "It's a shame really, I was just starting to like him."

"You bastard, I swear I will kill you, no matter how long it takes." Grimmjow promised and Aizen just chuckled.

"Don't make threats you can't ever hope to achieve." With that he got into the car and left with Amy.

Grimmjow bowed his head again to nuzzle Ichigo's hair and held him tightly. "Ichigo please don't do this, don't leave me now." He pulled back to stroke his cheek and sighed. "I remember now, I remember everything so please don’t do this.”

Nel walked over to him and knelt beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Grimmjow?” When he shook his head, she sighed and looked at Ichigo. “Come on, let’s get him home yeah?” She stood up, Grimmjow standing as well with Ichigo held in his arms and followed her back to the car to leave.

…

Amy sat silently in the car next to Aizen as they were driven back to his house. When they got there, he got out, dragging Amy with him inside. “Why did you do it?” She asked, yanking on her arm to make him stop when he didn’t respond. “Aizen why did you kill him?!”

Aizen turned and slapped her, hard enough to make her head snap to the side. “You dare speak to me like that?” He asked as she touched her cheek, sending him a spiteful look. “Go to your room, you will be called for dinner. Until then, behave yourself or there will be serious consequences to pay.”

One of Aizen’s men approached them and took Amy from him, leading her away to her old room. As they stopped outside it, the room next to hers opened and Aizen’s doctor came out with another guard. “Make sure he doesn’t leave the room for a while, I don’t know what Aizen is thinking, increasing the boy’s dosage like this, it will surely kill him.” With a shake of his head he turned and saw Amy and smiled. “My dear Amy!” He said joyfully, coming over to hug her. “I see your escape attempt failed?”

She nodded before jerking her head at the room he’d just left. “Who’s that?”

The doctor sighed, glancing at the guard wearily who shook his head slightly, the action going unnoticed by Amy. “Oh, no one, just another one of Aizen’s guests, best you don’t get involved.” She nodded, following the guard into her room where he locked the door behind her.

“I suggest you keep your mouth shut doctor, if you value your life.” When he nodded the guard sighed and stood guard outside Amy’s door. “Now off you go, I’m sure you have other duties to attend to.” He nodded again and walked away, glancing at the door next to Amy’s as he went.

…

When they returned to his mother’s house, Grimmjow kept his hold on Ichigo, sitting down inside with him without a word to his mother who looked at them both in confusion. “What’s wrong with Ichigo?”

Nel came inside and shut the door with a heavy sigh before looking at her. “Aizen killed him.” She whispered and their mother looked at her in shock, turning to look at Grimmjow again. “Grimmjow won’t talk to me, he’s shut down I don’t know what to do.”

“There’s nothing you can do just now, he’s grieving.” She told her daughter, patting her arm before walking to Grimmjow, sitting down next to him. “Grimmjow look at me.” He looked up slowly and she sighed, brushing his tear stained face. “I know it hurts dear, but please talk to me, it will only hurt more if you don’t.”

“Mum.” He choked on the word, closing his eyes before shaking his head and pulling free from her hold. “H-he’s dead, Aizen killed him and I couldn’t stop him. I did nothing to stop him.” Disgust filled his voice and he looked down at Ichigo, threading a hand in his hair. “He will never know how much I truly care for him.”

“He knew Grimmjow, he always knew. That’s why he loved you back, why he married you, why he stayed by you through everything, even you losing your memories.”

Grimmjow shook his head, tear falling down his cheeks again and onto Ichigo’s face. “But he didn’t know I remember it all and now I can’t tell him. He died thinking I didn’t love him and that I cheated on him with a teenage girl. How can I forgive myself for that?”

“There wasn’t anything you could do, you tried your best.”

“Well it wasn’t good enough!” He yelled back before sighing heavily, continuing in a softer voice. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” His mother replied, stroking his hair. “I know you don’t mean anything by it.” She sighed letting Grimmjow think for a moment. “We need to think about what to do with Ichigo.”

Grimmjow stiffened, bowing his head. “We can’t give him a proper funeral, we can’t involve the police. What can I give him that’s worthy for him? He deserves so much better than this.”

“We will give him what we can.”

Grimmjow nodded and looked at her. “Can you bring me some blankets?” She nodded and left to get some, when she returned Grimmjow stood up and gently laid Ichigo on them. “I’ll go dig a grave.” He left before his mother could respond and she sighed, looking at Ichigo.

“What will he do without you Ichigo, I don’t know if he can survive this. You were the one thing keeping him on track, I fear for him now.”

…

Amy looked at herself in the mirror and sighed, smoothing out the dress she had been requested to wear. She touched her cheek were the bruise Aizen had given her was expertly hidden by the makeup she wore. With a knock at the door she went to open it, her eyes narrowing when she saw it was Aizen. He looked at her and nodded approvingly. “As I thought, you look beautiful.”

“Whatever, are we going or not.” Aizen just frowned but stepped aside to lead her out of her room and to the main hall where they would eat. “Why the get up?”

“You want to look nice for our guest don’t you?”

Amy frowned. “Guest? You mean that man who you’ve been drugging next to my room?”

“How do you know about that?”

“I listen.” She replied sarcastically and Aizen chuckled.

“You’ve always had a mouth on you, and we both know what trouble it can get you in.” Amy opened her mouth to retort but thought better of it and closed it again. “There we go, see you do now how to behave properly.” Aizen patter her cheek and she stiffened for a moment. “Here we are, now take your usual seat at my side as usual.”

Amy nodded and followed Aizen into the room but came up short when she saw who Aizen’s guest was. His face was pale and expressionless, his hair in need of a wash, but there was no mistaking who he was and Amy was shocked, after all, she had watched him die early that day.

“I-ichigo?”

…

Grimmjow came back into the house after a couple of hours, covered in dirt and a tired expression as he sighed heavily, walking into the kitchen to get a drink. One thing he was grateful about was the fact his mother was quite well off so the house and gardens were large. Large enough he could dig a grave that wouldn’t be seen from the house so he knew Ichigo would be safe.

He turned when hearing footsteps to see it was Nel and nodded. “Where’s Ichigo?”

“Still in the living room, are you ready?”

Grimmjow nodded and went to the living room, crouching next to Ichigo on the sofa. He brushed his orange hair back and sighed, leaning forward to kiss the top of his head. “Goodbye Ichigo, I will always love you, no matter what and I will never forget you.” He murmured into his hair before pulling back to cover his body and pick him up. He turned to see his mother and Nel stood at the doorway and nodded. “Ok, let’s go.”

He carried Ichigo down to the bottom of the garden where he’d dug the grave and lowered Ichigo into it. Climbing out again and he knelt next to it for a moment before standing up to grab his shovel. Nel patted his shoulder and looked at the grave. “Goodbye Ichigo.”

His mother kissed his head and led Nel away to leave him to finish the grave. After a few hours it was done and Grimmjow knelt by it with a heavy sigh, gripping the shovel tightly. “What am I going to do without you Ichigo? I’ll never see your face again, see you smile or hear your laugh or voice. I will never wake up by your side again or touch you again. I don’t know how I’m going to do this without you.”

Grimmjow bowed his head and touched the ground and smiled before standing up and wiped his face again, chuckling softly. “Only you could make me cry.” He sighed and looked at the grave sadly. “I will always love you… goodbye Ichigo.”

 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

It had been two weeks since their meeting with Aizen, since Ichigo was killed and with each day, Grimmjow grew worse, more distant. Nel looked up as her brother came downstairs and sighed at his tired expression. "Did you sleep at all?" He just shook his head, moving to the kitchen to make some food. "Please Grimmjow, talk to me." She pleaded, following after him and Grimmjow sighed, leaning against the counter before turning to look at her.

"What's there to talk about?" He asked bluntly, shaking his head. "Ichigo's gone and it's my fault, I should've tried harder. And now Amy's in danger too and Nnoitra's not answering my calls."

When remembering all his memories, Grimmjow also remembered his original plan to save Amy. His high school friends, Nnoitra Gilga and Ulquiorra Cifer where now part of a special government task force and Aizen was one of their targets so they'd put a plan together. But when he didn't contact them, obviously they thought he was compromised and now weren't answering his calls or messages.

“Have you tried calling them again?”

“Yes and it makes no difference, they’re not going to answer!” He snapped back, sighing when Nel glared at him. “Sorry.” He murmured quietly, running a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry Nel, I just…”

“I know.” She replied just as quietly, hesitating for a moment before touching his shoulder and squeezing softly. “I know its hard Grimmjow, but we’ve got to try. Do it for Amy… and Ichigo.” Grimmjow sighed heavily before nodding and Nel smiled. “Good, now are you going to call again?”

“Yeah, I’ll go try now.” Grimmjow left the kitchen to find his phone and once he had, he called Nnoitra again. After ringing for several moment, he was about to end the call when it connected. “Hello?”

“Alright whoever the hell this is, we don’t want no trouble so shove off.”

Grimmjow chuckled at that. “Nnoitra stop being an idiot. I’ve not been killer or anything dumbass.”

There was a short pause before, “Oh, well ok then.”

“So, we still good for the plan?”

Nnoitra snorted. “Really? You disappeared without a word two weeks before we were going to do this. No word, nothing. We thought you’d been compromised so what the hell have you been doing?”

“I was shot, not by Aizen.” Grimmjow added quickly to the end of his sentence. “Long story short, Ichigo’s jealous ex, shot at Ichigo and hit me. I lost my memories and remembered two weeks ago, which is when I started trying to contact you. So we still on or what?”

“I dunno, I’ll have to talk to Ulquiorra, speaking of here he is.”

There was a pause, Grimmjow presuming they were talking before Ulquiorra spoke on the phone. “I see you’re still alive then.”

“Yes so we doing this or not?”

“Impatient aren’t we? Yes but it will have to wait a few days. No arguing.” He added at the end as Grimmjow opened his mouth to do just that. “Stubborn fool, we thought you were compromised so we called it off, everything needs rearranging. I’ll call you in a couple of days to let you know.” And with that, he ended the call.

Grimmjow sighed, putting the phone down before scrubbing his face. “Great, now we play the damn waiting game.” Hearing someone behind him he turned to see it was Nel. “Nnoitra finally answered, they’re getting things ready. Now I have to wait until they call me back.”

Nel nodded and smiled. “See, all it took was a little persistence. We’ll save Amy, I know it.”

“You’re not coming Nel.” She opened her mouth to object but Grimmjow held up a hand. “Don’t push this with me Nel, I don’t want you getting hurt either. Losing Ichigo was one too far, if either you or Amy is hurt, I could never forgive myself.” He chuckled softly before continuing. “Not that I can anyway, not after Ichigo.”

“Grimmjow you can’t beat yourself up over it, there was nothing you could do.”

“I could’ve tried harder to save him.”

Nel just sighed and shook her head, knowing there was no way to talk her stubborn headed brother round. “Fine, I won’t come, but you better come back safely too.”

Grimmjow snorted and turned to look at her. “No promises, I swore to kill Aizen and I will, even if I die doing it.”

…

Amy paced inside her room nervously, running a hand through her hair with a sigh. She’d been back two weeks now and yet, she knew Aizen’s obsession with Ichigo grew each day. She not only feared for what Aizen wanted with him, but for her own life too at this point as Aizen seemed to have lost all interest in her. She sighed again, sitting down on the bed, thinking back to what happened two weeks ago.

_“I-ichigo?” She asked in surprise, looking at the expressionless orange head with wide eyes before turning to Aizen. “No… you killed him. I saw you, you shot him in the head…”_

_Aizen chuckled and walked over to the man, gently patting his shoulder before sitting down next to him at the head of the table. “My dear Amy, why would I kill someone like Ichigo here? He is far too interesting for that.”_

_“So… who was that, at the docks?” She asked cautiously, walking over as well to join them. Looking at Ichigo close up, she was surprised to see no flicker of reaction when he looked at her. As far as she knew, he thought Grimmjow had an affair with her, so wouldn’t he be at least a bit angry with her? “What’s wrong with him?” Amy thought back to what the doctor had said earlier that day, about the drugs. “You’ve drugged him with something, haven’t you?”_

_“Very observant of you. Yes he’s been sedated with a suppressant to help control his emotions. Did you know he has a nasty temper? Best to keep these things under control.” Aizen replied cheerfully, starting to eat his food that had been laid out for them. “It doesn’t matter who it was I killed, just an inconvenience.”_

_“So why keep Ichigo, why not give him back to Grimmjow?” Amy pushed, ignoring her food to watch Aizen intently. If she had learnt anything from him, it was to never let her guard down around him. “What possible purpose could he serve?”_

_Aizen paused and looked up at her then at Ichigo and Amy was surprised to see his expression soften before he reached out to cradle Ichigo’s cheek. Ichigo’s eyes flickered to him, his blank expression never wavering. “Ichigo is quite unique, don’t you think? I’d like to keep him around, maybe one day lower the dug dosage to see some of his fire again.” He sighed, pulling Ichigo’s bandaged hand up. “It’s a shame really, about his hand. Harming something so beautiful was unnecessary.”_

_“Beautiful?” Amy asked in disbelief. “You haven’t… done anything to him, have you?”_

_Aizen turned to look at her slowly, removing his hand from Ichigo’s face. “Of course not, in his current condition there would be no fun to it.” Amy opened her mouth again, but when his eyes narrowed, she stopped herself at the warning sign. “That’s enough about Ichigo, now eat your food please.” She sighed and did as she asked, watching as Aizen looked at Ichigo again, handing him a fork. “You need to eat too Ichigo, keep up your strength.” With a nod the orange head picked up his fork and started eating. “See Amy, this is how you should behave, obedient to my every word.”_

…

Amy looked up as someone knocked on her door and sighed, getting up to answer it. She opened the door to find it was Aizen and raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Come walk with me.” She nodded and followed Aizen from the room, surprised to see Ichigo wasn’t with them and they didn’t stop at his room to get him. “What about Ichigo?”

“He doesn’t need to join us for now.” Amy just nodded and they walked in silence outside, reaching the fencing, Aizen sighed and stopped, turning to look at her. “You know Amy, over the past few weeks, I’ve come to realise you are not all I want.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked quietly, watching him warily.

“That I’ve found Ichigo to be quite unique and plan to keep him around. You will have to get used to his presence of course.” Amy almost scoffed, catching herself at the last moment. “I expect you to take care of him from now on, I have important matters to attend to and I can’t keep an eye on him.”

“Of course, not that he needs taking care of since he’s so drugged up he barely functions.” She replied sarcastically. “I thought you were going to lower his dosage?”

“Not just yet, Ichigo would still fight and that would lead to him being hurt, something I’m keen to avoid at this point. For now, he remains in his current state for his own safety.” Aizen started walking back to the house, Amy following reluctantly after him. “I hope you will take care of him, or else you will have to suffer the consequences.” He didn’t elaborate on the threat, but he didn’t need to, Amy was keen to avoid that. “Now if you would go fetch Ichigo, we will share lunch together.”

“Sure thing.” She turned to walk the opposite way down the corridor, coming to a stop when they heard yelling and shots fired. “What’s that?”

Aizen frowned and with a jolt, she realised he didn’t know, which meant something was wrong. “Forget about Ichigo, he’s safe where he is, let’s go.” He grabbed her arm firmly and marched down the corridor. “We’re going to my study, it’s the safest place here.”

…

It was exactly two days later that Ulquiorra called Grimmjow back, true to his word as he’d said. Grimmjow had been half asleep on the sofa, not having anything to do as he waited for Ulquiorra or Nnoitra to return his call and when his phone rang, he almost fell off the sofa in his haste to grab it. “Yeah?” He asked upon seeing the ID and answering the call.

“Everything is ready, we will begin the assault in two hours. Nnoitra is on his way to pick you up as we speak so be ready.” And with that, Ulquiorra ended the call, making Grimmjow short. The man was known for his bluntness and lack of conversational skills.

Just as Ulquiorra had said, a few minutes later there was a knock at the door and when he answered it, Nnoitra grinned at him. “Long time no see man. Ready to go kick some ass?”

“You know it.” Grimmjow grinned back, following his old friend out to his car. Nnoitra tossed him a pistol as they got it, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Still know how to use that thing?”

“Oh yeah, you think I’d forget? It was only because of Ichigo I didn’t follow you guy on into the task force. He would’ve killed me.” Grimmjow had, for all purposes trained with his two friends to join them, but when he started dating Ichigo, the orange head persuaded him to pursue their relationship instead of the task force life.

“I’m only making sure I don’t want you shooting my ass instead of Aizen’s, that’s all.” They fell into silence as Nnoitra drove and after about ten minutes, he spoke up cautiously. “So… can I ask how did you persuaded Ichigo to let you do this? Have you told him ‘bout your sister yet?”

“He’s dead.” Grimmjow replied calmly, checking the gun over and replacing the mag. “Aizen killed him. He first kidnapped him in exchange for Amy, before shooting Ichigo in the head in front of me. I promised the bastard I would kill him, and I intend to keep that promise.”

The black haired man sighed. “Just… don’t lose your head in there ok? Revenge and grief aren’t the best things to combine and I’ve seen a lot of people lose their heads because of it. Try to be at least a little bit cautious.” Grimmjow snorted but said nothing and they remained silent for the rest of the journey before pulling up near a large mansion, Grimmjow presuming this was where Aizen lived, and was keeping Amy.

Spotting Ulquiorra, they walked over to the man who was talking to another dressed in combat, dismissing him as they walked over. “We’re ready.” He commented, looking at them both before noticing the gun in Grimmjow’s hand. “You sure that is wise?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Grimmjow asked, frowning back. “I’m not going in unarmed and I know how to use one so I won’t be shooting yours or Nnoitra’s ass off.” He commented, jerking his head at the mansion. “So what’s the plan?”

“Same as always, run in guns blazin’ and pray you don’t get shot.” Nnoitra replied, pulling out his own gun and jerked his head and the gates. “So we going in or what?”

Ulquiorra sighed and nodded, following after him as he strode towards the gates, Grimmjow following after him. “Let’s get this over with then.” They hung back as Nnoitra took the first group in, breaking down the gate before storming the front entrance.

“It’s clear, come on in!” The lanky man’s voice sounded through their walkie talkies.

“Copy that, move to second phase.” Ulquiorra replied before turning to Grimmjow. “If you want Aizen, he’ll be in his office. It’s in the third wing, fourth door on the left, I’ll take you there. Be warned he’s most likely got security all over the wing so we need to be careful, understand?”

“Yeah yeah, I know don’t lose my head, I get it already.” Grimmjow sighed before replying and followed Ulquiorra inside. Nnoitra nodded at them as they passed to go through the left wing of the building, following the empty corridor’s for several minutes. “So… where is everyone?” He asked the silent man next to him and he sighed.

“No idea, either dead or busy defending other areas. Since we’re not making noise, they probably don’t know we’re here.” They reached a pair of large, oak wooden doors and pushed inside to find themselves in a large ballroom. “If I remember correctly, as I always do, Aizen’s office if through those doors.” He indicated at the other end of the room and set off, Grimmjow following after him.

They got halfway across the room before the doors on the other side of the room opened and Grimmjow’s eyes widened as Amy stumbled through, smiling when she saw him. “Grimmjow!” She cried his name ad ran over, almost jumping into his arms when she reached them. “Oh thank god it’s you!”

“Amy? How did you escape?”

“Aizen was distracted watching the door, he forgot about me and I took my chance.” She glanced back at the doors she came through. “I only knocked him out so he’s still in there.”

“Perfect.” Grimmjow replied, moving towards the doors but Amy grabbed his arm.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to kill him, like I promised.” Amy pulled him back and he sighed. “What? He killed Ichigo, I need to do this.”

He went to move again but Amy dragged him back. “He didn’t kill Ichigo!”

Grimmjow froze, turning to look at her slowly with a disbelieving expression. “What? He can’t be… Aizen killed him. He killed him in front of me!”

“I-it was a trick, Ichigo’s alive he’s here, in the building.” She pulled on his arm and Grimmjow started following towards the doors they came through. “Leave Aizen, come on.” They reached the door but Grimmjow hesitated, turning to look at Ulquiorra who just nodded, walking towards the study so he let Amy lead him back to the main entrance.

Nnoitra frowned as the two walked in. “I take it you killed him? So where’s Ulquiorra?”

“Not now Nnoitra.” Grimmjow told him as Amy stopped at another door and opened it. “There’s something we’ve got to do, is it safe?”

“Yeah we got the whole place on lockdown. What’s going on?” Grimmjow just shook his head, following after Amy and Nnoitra snorted. “Well I’m glad I could help!”

“Amy.” Grimmjow said her name and she glanced back at him questioningly. “Are you sure it’s Ichigo?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” She smiled reassuringly and they continued for another ten minutes, each step seeming like an eternity for Grimmjow before they came to a halt outside two doors. “He should be in here.” Looking at her brother again to see his drawn expression, she pushed him towards the door. “Go on.”

Grimmjow nodded and sighed heavily, pushing the door open slowly. Looking around the room, he didn’t notice anything at first before another door opened and like Amy had promised, Ichigo walked out. He paused when seeing Grimmjow, no emotions playing on his face as he looked at him. “Grimmjow?”

“Oh god Ichigo.” Grimmjow grinned, moving forward to pull Ichigo into his arms and held him tightly. “Shit I thought I’d lost you.” Ichigo held still in his arms, not moving to embrace him back or anything else so Grimmjow pulled back to frown at him, noting the still blank expression. “What’s wrong with you?” He asked carefully, cupping his face to look into his vacant brown eyes. “Has he… drugged you?”

“What are you doing here?” Ichigo ignored his questions and continued looking at him with his blank expression. “Aizen won’t want you here, you should leave.”

“Fuck Aizen Ichi, I’m getting you out of here, come on.” He let go of the younger man’s face and grabbed his hand, eyes narrowing when he look at the other bandaged one. “Ulquiorra better make that bastard suffer for what he’s done to you. Come on, let’s get you out of here.” Ichigo followed after him out of the room and Grimmjow looked at Amy. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Aizen used some sort of drug that represses his emotions. It will most likely wear off after a while if he doesn’t get any more dosages.” Amy looked at Ichigo and smiled. “You ok?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“See?” She looked at Grimmjow again. “It’s probably the best for him, he would only have been stressed otherwise. Aizen would have hurt him more.”

“Aizen wouldn’t hurt me, he cares about me.” Grimmjow’s eyes twitched at Ichigo’s comment, but said nothing, keeping a firm grip on his hand as Amy lead them back to the entrance room again. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going home Ichi.”

“Finally.” Nnoitra groaned, walking towards them. “What the hell is going on? Ulquiorra won’t tell me nothin’. So you better get your ass over here and- oh shit Ichigo!” He came to abrupt halt upon seeing the orange head. “Uh, what?”

“Aizen faked his death, he wanted to keep Ichigo for himself.” Amy explained, shaking her head. “It’s better we don’t know what he had planned for him.”

Grimmjow growled, pulling Ichigo closer to him protectively. “Did he touch him in any way, hurt him or anything…”

“No, not that I know of. Aizen said he wanted Ichigo to be off the drug when he did. He said something about wanting to see his ‘fire’ again.”

“Bastard, he won’t be coming anywhere near Ichigo now. Ulquiorra dealt with him so I doubt there’s much left.” He looked at Ichigo and smiled softly, running a hand through his orange locks. “I’m not going to let you go again, understand?” Ichigo just nodded, allowing Grimmjow to lead him from the house. “He needs a doctor, somehow I doubt Ichigo will be in good shape when the drug wears off.”

Nnoitra came up behind them and overtook to lead them towards a makeshift tent. “Don’t worry about it, we got our Doc in on this and Aizen’s has agreed to help. They’ll have something for you little berry don’t you worry.”

Grimmjow rolled his eyes, leading Ichigo into the tent and sat him down in a military infirmary cot where they waiting a few minutes for both doctors to walk in. “Doc!” Nnoitra called, waving him over. “Check over Ichigo would ya?”

The man nodded and walked over, leaving what was presumably Aizen’s doctor stood in the doorway. Grasping Ichigo’s chin, he lifted his head gently and quickly observed him. “He’s been drugged.”

“Yeah, something that supresses his emotions.” Amy told him and he nodded, letting go of Ichigo’s face.

“How long has he been on it?”

“Uh, a couple of weeks or so I think.”

The doctor sighed and shook his head. “By the looks of this man, he’s completely dependent on the drug. Withdrawal will be difficult, I suggest we wean him off the drug instead of going cold turkey as a sudden influx of emotions could have dire consequences.”

Grimmjow frowned, reaching out to grasp Ichigo’s hand and the orange head turned to look at him. “What do you want Ichi?”

He just shrugged. “Whatever you think is best.”

Grimmjow sighed, turning to look at the doctor. “So this weaning thing, how long will it take?”

“A couple of months I’d say to do this properly. We can’t rush the process and I must warn you, as we lower the dosage, he could become hostile or have withdrawal symptoms. Will you be able to care for him?”

He looked at Grimmjow sternly who nodded, squeezing Ichigo’s hand reassuringly before kissing his head. “I’ll always look after Ichigo.”


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Grimmjow sighed as he sat down next to Ichigo who was sleeping soundly in his bed. The only time the orange head ever looked at ease was in his sleep. It had been almost two months since he’d gotten Ichigo back and to say it had been difficult was an understatement. The first few days had been alright, Ichigo still having a high enough dosage to mask his emotions, but as the dosage was lowered and he began feeling things or even a flicker of anything, he freaked out.

Thinking back to the first time it happened, Grimmjow smiled bitterly.

…

_“Ichigo! Come on before the food gets cold!” Grimmjow called, setting two plates on the table before waiting for the other man to come in. After a few moments Ichigo walked in and sat down opposite Grimmjow, picking up a fork to push at the food. “Everything ok?” He asked cautiously and Ichigo just shrugged._

_“I’m fine.”_

_“You feel… anything?”_

_Ichigo paused, setting the fork down and looked up at him with his permanent blank expression. Although Grimmjow would never admit it, seeing no expression on Ichigo’s face was killing him, it just wasn’t right to see him suffer like this, especially because it was his fault. “No.”_

_Grimmjow stood up and walked over to him, running a hand gently through his orange hair. “You’ll get better, I promise Ichi.” He looked up at him, brown eyes looking at him desperately and without thinking, Grimmjow bent down and kissed Ichigo gently. Ichigo stiffened and he started to pull back but the man grabbed his shirt, pulling him back down to kiss him back._

_It was insatiable, after so long without Ichigo, the simple kiss was intense as hell for Grimmjow. He cupped the back of Ichigo’s neck, deepening the kiss and the younger man moaned, reaching up to grab his shirt. Suddenly though, he shoved Grimmjow away, successfully breaking contact with him and stood up, backing away from the room._

_“Ichi?” Grimmjow asked quietly reaching out to touch him but stopped when Ichigo shook his head, eyeing his hand with wide eyes and shied away. “It’s ok, I’m not going to hurt you.”_

_“D-don’t do that again.” Ichigo replied weakly, running a shaking hand through his hair before exhaling. “I don’t want to feel that, whatever it is.”_

_“Ok, I promise I won’t.” Ichigo eyed him for a moment before nodding and sitting down again and picked up his fork. Any expression he’d previously shown disappeared quickly as he returned to his monotonous state. Grimmjow sighed and sat down across from him, mindful not to touch Ichigo as he passed. His lips still burned from the contact with Ichigo’s and Grimmjow had to supress a sigh as he poked at his own food. “What did you feel?”_

_Ichigo stiffened and he looked up to see he was staring at him, his eyes wide again and he could see Ichigo was afraid. “I-I, it was…” He stopped and shook his head, looking down again. “Nothing, I didn’t feel anything.”_

_“Are you sure?”_

_“Yes!” Ichigo snapped, standing up and slammed his fork on the table, glaring at Grimmjow. “I didn’t feel anything so stop badgering me!” He yelled before storming off and Grimmjow groaned when he heard a door slam shut, presumably the one to Ichigo’s room._

_“Well shit.”_

…

Ichigo mumbled incoherently in his sleep, turning over so his back was to Grimmjow, snapping the older man out of his reminiscence. He smiled softly as Ichigo curled up tighter, one hand reaching out to the other end of the bed. “Grimmjow…” He murmured the word softly and Grimmjow sighed, gently rubbing his back.

“I’m still here Ichi, I’m not going anywhere.”

The man fell silent again and Grimmjow sat upright with a small frown. Ichigo was getting to the point where he could finally function without the drug again, the dosage he was getting each day was being lowered and when he woke up, he would get his last one. Grimmjow sighed and rubbed his face tiredly, thinking about when Ichigo first began noticing the effects of the weaning drug, needless to say he hadn’t taken it well.

…

_Grimmjow was in the living room, busy typing away on his laptop, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he sorted through the remains of Ichigo’s art business. Since his disappearance and subsequent drugging, he hadn’t even looked in his at room, much less touched a pencil. So it was up to him to at least attempt to keep things running until Ichigo could function properly enough to work. One thing he knew about Ichigo was, he worked with passion and without that, well it just wouldn’t work._

_“Grimmjow?” He paused, looking up to see Ichigo stood in the doorway watching him whilst pulling at his sleeve, something he knew he did when nervous or anticipating something. “Can… I ask you for something?”_

_“Sure, come here.” He set the laptop down, patting the place next to him and Ichigo gave him a swift smile, which quickly disappeared before he sat down next to Grimmjow. Ichigo had been back three weeks now and a couple of days ago, the doctor had told Grimmjow the dosage he would receive would be cut significantly, so Ichigo was likely to start showing some effects of this. “What is it?”_

_Ichigo just shrugged, looking down at his sleeve whilst biting his lip and it was then Grimmjow noticed his hands were shaking. He was becoming accustomed to feeling things again, something Grimmjow was grateful for since at least now, Ichigo acted more human than robot. Hell he’d even managed to kiss Ichigo a couple of more times, nothing more than a quick press of lips, but still, it was better than nothing._

_“Ichigo, whatever it is, just ask me.” Grimmjow hesitated before reaching out and slowly running a hand through his orange hair. “Come on, out with it.”_

_“I… I need more Grimmjow.” He whispered the words quietly, looking up at him with desperate eyes. “Please, I can’t do this.”_

_Grimmjow sighed, shaking his head. “I can’t Ichi, you’ve had enough for today, there is no more.”_

_Ichigo grabbed his arm and shook his head. “You’re lying, I know there’s more. Please Grimmjow give it to me, I need it.”_

_“No, you don’t.” Grimmjow grabbed his hand, loosening the tight grip on his arm and squeezed it softly. “You don’t need the drug Ichigo, trust me, you’ll be fine.”_

_He could feel his hand shaking in his own before Ichigo ripped it free and scowled at him. “You have no idea how this feels. All I can think about is getting more, I physically feel sick because of this.” He stood up and shook his head. “Why are you doing this to me? You promised not to hurt me, but that’s what you’re doing right now.”_

_Grimmjow flinched, but grabbed Ichigo’s arm, pulling him back and kissed him firmly before resting their heads together. “Look at me Ichigo.” He obliged and Grimmjow sighed, looking into his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you, but giving you more won’t help, it will just hurt you worse in the long run. So no, I won’t give you any, no matter what you say.”_

_Ichigo grabbed his face suddenly, pulling him into a searing kiss and moved to sit on top of him. He pulled away and smiled at Grimmjow, rocking their hips together. “Give me what I want, and I’ll give you what you want. I know you want me Grimmjow, I see it in your eyes every day, every time you look at me. All you have to do is give me some more drugs and you can have me.”_

_Grimmjow’s eyes widened, but he didn’t get to reply as Ichigo kissed him again. It was true, he wanted  nothing more than to fuck Ichigo senseless right now, but at the cost of his health, it wasn’t much of a deal. He shoved Ichigo off and sat up, shaking his head again. “No.”_

_“You’re impossible!” Ichigo yelled, getting up from the sofa and started walking towards the door. “Why did you take me away from Aizen? At least he gave me what I wanted. He cared for me more than you ever could!”_

_Grimmjow snapped at that, standing up to follow after Ichigo and slammed him into the wall when he caught up to the younger man. “Don’t you ever say that!” He growled and Ichigo’s eyes widened in surprise. “Don’t you ever say I don’t care about you. It’s because I care about you that I won’t give you more, it’s because I love you that I’m still here and damn it Ichigo one day you will come back to your god damn senses and thank me!”_

_Ichigo glared back at him, shoving him away. “Never.” He replied, walking away and this time, Grimmjow didn’t follow after him._

_…_

Grimmjow snorted softly, shaking his head, of course, a few days later Ichigo was begging for forgiveness, but then after that he would beg for more. It was an endless vicious cycle and the only thing that got Grimmjow through it was the thought of Ichigo afterwards, when he was back to himself again. It was lucky really, that Ichigo never went in his art room, he tore the house apart searching for the drugs but never found them. After all, Grimmjow had hidden them in his art room and was thankful really, he knew Ichigo couldn’t bear the thought of going in there, so it was the perfect place.

He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or not once they got through it, it was only because Ichigo could barely move that he stopped trying to find the drugs. At first he just refused to get out of bed and Grimmjow assumed it was a new ploy, but after a few days he realised it was something else.

…

_“Ichigo?” Grimmjow called, walking into the bedroom to see he was curled up in bed still and sighed, this was the third day he had refused to get out of bed. “Come on, this isn’t working. I won’t give you any more so stop pretending.” Walking over to him, Grimmjow stood at the side of the bed and looked at Ichigo expectantly. “Well?”_

_Ichigo lifted his head slowly and Grimmjow eyes widened when he saw how pale he looked, the dark circles under his eyes etched into his skin. “G-grimm?”_

_“Shit Ichi, what’s wrong?” He knelt next to the man, cupping his cheek and stroked it slowly._

_Ichigo smiled weakly, closing his eyes again and sighed heavily. “Don’t feel well…”_

_“Yeah I can see that.” Grimmjow sighed, slowly dropping Ichigo’s head onto the pillow so he could stand up again. “Ok, I’ll get you some food.” He left, returning ten minutes later with some soup and sat down next to Ichigo, propping him up on some pillows. “Come on Ichigo, you need to eat.”_

_He opened his mouth when Grimmjow pushed the spoon against his lips and ate the soup slowly. “Stop.” He murmured, pushing Grimmjow’s hand away. “I’m gunna be sick.”_

_“You’re fine, it’s just because your body wants the drugs. You’ll get through it, like everything else.”_

_“No, I’m really gunna-“ Ichigo grabbed the bowl and threw up violently into it. Grimmjow gently rubbed his back as he groaned. “No more soup…”_

_“Ok, no more soup, for now at least.” He smiled when Ichigo groaned, taking the bowl form him. “You done?” When he nodded, Grimmjow stood. “I’ll bring you a better bowl if you need to throw up again.”_

_“Thanks.” Ichigo whispered as he left and when Grimmjow returned, he took the new bowl gratefully and placed it next to him before curling up again, looking at Grimmjow sadly. “Why do you stay?”_

_“What?”_

_Ichigo’s eyes fluttered shut as Grimmjow ran a hand through his hair and smiled softly. “Why do you put up with me and all this shit? I’ve done nothing but hurt you and yet you’re still here. Why?”_

_“Well I thought that’d be obvious.” Ichigo frowned, turning his head slightly so he could look at him questioningly. “I love you.” He just smiled, closing his eyes again and Grimmjow frowned when he didn’t receive a reply before smiling when he realised Ichigo had fallen asleep. Leaning over the man, he pressed a gently kiss to his head. “Feel better soon Ichi.”_

…

“Grimmjow?” He started slightly at the call of his name, looking down at Ichigo to see he had woken up and was looking at him with a slight frown. “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” He smiled reassuringly, reaching out to grasp Ichigo’s hand and the man smiled, squeezing his back. “I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Just… everything’s that’s happened I suppose.” Ichigo’s expression softened and he sat up, tugging on Grimmjow’s hand to make him sit on the bed next to him. When he complied, Ichigo wrapped his arms around him and nodded into his neck. “I’ve missed you so much Ichi.”

“I’ve missed you too.” He whispered against his neck before pulling back to smile at him. “But I’m better now, how many more days to I have to take the drug?”

“Today’s the last. Speaking of which I should probably give it to you, come on.” Grimmjow lead him downstairs, leaving Ichigo sat in the kitchen to grab the remains of the drug in his art room. When he returned to the kitchen Ichigo was sat waiting for him and smiled when he walked in. “Ok, give me you arm.” Grimmjow sat down next to him and Ichigo held out his arm.

He frowned as Grimmjow prepared the injection, hesitating when he was about to inject it. “Wait.” Grimmjow paused, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t want it, I don’t want to be like that anymore. I like being able to feel, I like what _you_ make me feel.”

He took the needle and walked to the sink, dumping the contents down the drain before throwing it in the bin. Ichigo turned and looked at Grimmjow with a smile. “I want to keep feeling this, I like the way you make me feel Grimm. I don’t need the drug, I need you.”

Grimmjow smiled, shaking his head slightly before standing up and walking over to Ichigo to pull him into his arms. “I need you too Ichi, I’ve missed you so much.”

“I won’t become like that again Grimm, I promise.” He pulled back to smile sheepishly at him. “And I uh… I’m sorry for accusing you of cheating on me like that. I know Amy’s your sister know. I really am sorry for saying all that shit. Even if you don’t remember, I don’t care, I still love you and I don’t want the old you or this you more than the other.”

“Oh Ichigo, I need to tell you something.” Ichigo raised an eyebrow questioningly, but Grimmjow just shook his head. “Upstairs, I need to give you something first.” He lead Ichigo up into their bedroom and Ichigo sat down on the bed as Grimmjow rummaged in one of the drawers. “So, I found these when I came to see you, y’know, the day Aizen kidnapped you.” Grimmjow told him, moving to sit next to him and opened his hand so Ichigo could see his rings. “Do you want them back?”

Ichigo nodded, smiling as he held out his hand before frowning at it. “I uh, don’t have my ring finger anymore.” Grimmjow just nodded, moving to take his right hand and slid the rings onto that ring finger.

“How’s that?”

Ichigo just smiled, wrapping his arms around Grimmjow’s neck to kiss him. “Perfect.” Grimmjow smiled, kissing him again but Ichigo pulled away with a smirk. “So what did you want to tell me?”

Grimmjow sighed, rubbing his hips. “When Aizen… killed you, it felt like my world had crashed down around me. The thought of being without you, was too much to bear and dunno, I guess it made something snap. Whatever happened… I remembered everything the moment he shot what I thought was you, in the head.”

Ichigo’s eyes widened and he froze, looking at Grimmjow in shock. “R-remembered what?” He whispered and Grimmjow smirked.

“What do you think? I remembered everything Ichi. You and me, all of it.”

If he thought Ichigo was happy before, he was ecstatic now as he grinned so wide it almost threated to split his face and he laughed, throwing himself into Grimmjow’s arms, holding him tightly. “Oh Grimm…”

Grimmjow tightened his hold on Ichigo, kissing his temple. “I love you Ichi and I swear, I’ll never leave you again.”

Ichigo laughed again. “As if I’d let you go. I didn’t the first time and I won’t, ever. I love you too.” He pulled back, kissing Grimmjow softly. “Wanna know something?”

“Sure.”

“I really feel like painting something right now.” When Grimmjow rolled his eyes, Ichigo smiled and pushed him back on the bed, kissing him lightly. “But it can wait. Right now I feel like both of need this.”

Grimmjow ran his hands over Ichigo’s sides, smirking when he grinned. “You’re damn right about that. I’m going to make you remember what it is to feel something when I’m with you. By the time I’m done, you’re not gunna be able to walk to your art room.”

“You better make good of the promise.” Ichigo tangled his fingers in Grimmjow’s hair, tugging him closer so their lips brushed together. “I’m glad your back Grimm.”

“Me too Ichi, I’m glad your back too.”

Ichigo smiled, kissing him softly. “Me too.”


End file.
